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MANILA, Philippines -- The Department of Labor and Employment has acknowledged that more Filipinos were seeking jobs abroad, despite the Arroyo administration’s claims of a rosy economy.
The agency is seeking P511 million for its budget next year for job search assistance For Filipinos wanting to work overseas, according to Labor Secretary Marianito Roque at Friday’s budget hearing at the House of Representatives.
Roque presented DoLE’s proposed P6.86 billion for 2009, which is 6.5 percent higher than the agency’s budget in 2008.
Roque said the bulk of the proposed budget would go to the Technical Educational Skills Development Authority (TESDA) to fund trainings and scholarships.
Roque said the job search assistance would benefit about 16 million workers, including some 800,000 seeking jobs abroad.
He said the government was targeting “non-traditional" areas like France, Finland, Manitoba, and British Columbia for deployment of at least 40,000 Filipino workers a year. At least 3,400 workers leave the country a day for work overseas.
Roque said this would help reduce the number of unemployed Filipinos, which now number to 2.9 million.
Overseas Filipino workers (OFW) remittances of about $14 billion a year have helped boost the economy amid the slump worldwide.
In her past speeches, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo said she would work hard to improve the economy so that working abroad would not be the only option but a career choice for Filipinos.
