Home 
MANILA, Philippines--The Department of Labor and Employment is preparing for a first quarter storm in 2009 in possible job losses abroad, Overseas Workers Welfare Administration Administrator Carmelita Dimzon told INQUIRER.net.
DoLE and its attached agencies OWWA and the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration recently held another assessment of the labor situation where labor officials also planned their strategy for next year.
"Our monitoring is 24/7. We want the confirmed information," she said.
Dimzon said the number of overseas Filipino workers who have lost their jobs is now 6,000, mostly from Taiwan manufacturing companies that were severely affected by the crisis.
"As of today, the situation is not yet alarming. The figures are still normal. Filipinos are still being deployed every day," she said. (POEA records show that some 3,000 leave every day for work abroad.)
"But the figures from the first quarter of next year would be telling," she said. "That's why we need to put safety nets in place."
Dimzon said that if more OFWs return from jobs overseas, many of them might need to undergo "retooling" for new jobs needed abroad.
Among those who might need "aggressive training" are Filipino seafarers so that they can fill the still many vacant positions for officers.
In POEA's overseas employment outlook of 2009, it listed the general and specific "threats" to the continued deployment of OFWs in different parts of the world, even in the alternative destinations the Philippines earlier set its sights on.
Among the general threats are:
* The nationalization policy in many Gulf countries aimed at limiting the number of foreign workers, particularly the unskilled, to achieve demographic balance;
* Saudi Arabia's downstream joint ventures which depend on partners for financing also face an uncertain future due to tighter financial markets;
* Canada's growth rate for the second quarter has slowed down;
* Macau's policy is to rely more on local jobs and to fight irregular migration;
* Australia's Department of Immigration and Citizenship reported a decline in the number of employers seeking to become sponsors for overseas workers under its long-term temporary skilled workers program; and
* The relocation of the United States military base to Guam, to be shouldered by both the US and Japan, both experiencing budgetary problems, may be delayed;
Specific threats, according to the POEA overseas employment outlook for 2009, include:
* Saudi Aramco, the world's largest national oil company, has ordered a review of some high-profile projects and has talked with contractors in a bid to reduce costs;
* Dubai Electricity and Water Authority has scrapped bids submitted for the first phase of its P Station project in Hassyan;
* The Palm Deira project, the world's largest man-made island in Dubai, will be scaled back, postponed, delayed, or even cancelled due to financing difficulties;
* Local developer, Nakheel, also scaled back on work on Dubai Waterfront, the world's largest waterfront development project;
* The ATH Garments factory in Brunei is downsizing although its management said it will try to retain its 500 Filipino workers;
* Brunei's construction company SDN BHD reduced its Filipino workers from 50 to 16;
* Macau's Las Vegas Sands announced that it was stopping part of its $12-billion development in Macau, causing some 11,000 local and foreign workers to lose their jobs;
* Austal Shipbuilding Co. made redundant 100 workers, 75 of whom are Filipinos. While seven have found jobs in other companies in Australia, 50 have returned to the Philippines, and the rest are still looking for jobs;
* Slowdown in the hiring of health-care workers to Malaga in Spain;
* Italy's largest trade union CGIL urged the temporary ban on the entry of foreign job seekers;
* Five companies in the United Kingdom (Voltcom Ltd., Corus, Virgin Media, Glaxo, and British Telecom) have laid off 69 OFWs; and
* Some employers in Canada have requested that the processing of visas for OFWs be put on hold.
Despite these threats to overseas employment, the labor department remains optimistic that the effect of the global financial crisis on OFWs and would-be OFWs would be minimal.
The POEA pointed out that there are close to half a million job orders that are still not filled; of the number more than 100,000 were new additions from October to December this year.
