OFW deployment, remittances to surpass '07 target

The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) expects global deployment and total remittances of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) to hit above target for the rest of 2007. Labor Secretary Arturo D. Brion said that with strong employment opportunities abroad, deployment of OFWs could breach the one-million mark and total remittances could hit the US$ 14-billion level by December. Deployment of workers overseas already hit the one-million mark in 2006 while remittances reached $12.8 billion. The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas has been expecting remittances to grow by 10 percent and reach $14.7 billion by the end of 2007 and $15.4 billion in 2008. DOLE records show that in June, deployment was already over 500,000, distributed in more than 190 destinations worldwide. He said, deployment reached 725,999 on August 31, representing more than two-thirds (72.6 percent) of the 1-million target. Earlier, Brion reported that from January to July this year, deployment in the new hire category increased in several destinations including Canada, Italy, Cyprus, New Zealand, and New Caledonia. According to him, the percentage of deployed professional and technical workers went up by two percentage points to 14.4 percent in the first half of 2007 from 12.4 percent in the same period in 2006, with high end skills accounting for more than two-thirds (73 percent) of the total new hires. Rehires increased by 2.5 percent to 361,655 from January 1 to August 31, 2007, compared to 352,908 in the same period last year. Moreover, the total contracts the POEA processed for overseas Filipino seafarers have expanded by 15.9 percent to 279,922 from 241,522 during the same period. Brion also cited a report of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) that OFW remittances have reached a record $7 billion in the first six months of 2007, which is 18.1 percent above the level recorded in the same period last year. If the trend continues, remittances may well approach $14 billion by yearend, he said, noting that $ 1.1-billion remittance in June this year was the 14th in a row of monthly remittances exceeding the $ 1-billion mark. Brion added that major banks in the Philippines are developing easy and affordable remittance system in coordination with DOLE, particularly its newly established National Reintegration Center for OFWs. - GMANews.TV