High recruitment costs to Spain turn off Filipino jobseekers

Spain’s strict immigration requirements discourage jobseekers for overseas employment from exploring employment opportunities there, according to a recruitment agency official. Spain requires job applicants to be proficient in its language, a skill that can be acquired by enrolling in institutions like Instituto de Cervantes but at a high cost, said Victor Fernandez, president of the Philippine Association of Service Exporters, Inc. Filipino caregivers, in particular, find the high cost of recruitment fees, language proficiency lessons and other expenses needed before they could qualify for a job in the former Philippine colonizer, Fernandez said. He said a Spanish language proficiency course would cost P18,000. In addition, job applicants are charged an equivalent of one month salary for placement fee for local recruiters. “All OFWs bound for Spain have to speak and write the language language And there are a few schools like Instituto de Cervantes who can offer competent language learning courses at a very high price," Fernandez said. As a consequence, Filipino overseas job hunters increasingly find New Zealand and Malaysia as potential destinations, he said. Apart from the high cost of the language proficiency course and recruitment fees, Fernandez said Spain imposes a tax on foreign workers. The high cost of living in the European state is another turn off to Filipino job applicants. Caregivers protest the taxes imposed by the Spanish government on foreign workers, plus high cost of living in that country that eats up a big chunk of their monthly pay. A caregiver earns 900 euros monthly or an equivalent of P56,000 in Spain. Taxes, apartment rental, and food expenses would eat up a huge part of the pay, leaving the caregiver a net earning of between 200 to 300 euros, or about P20,000, Fernandez explained. According to him, the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) has accredited around 15 local agencies to recruit for deployment to Spain. However, no recruitment guidelines have been released even after the signing of a memorandum of agreement between the Philippines and Spain. Spanish employers have started to look at South America as a potential source of its manpower requirements, basically because its people speak the same language, Fernandez noted. - GMANews.TV