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Some United States officials have expressed support for the
Philippines’ bid to deploy more overseas Filipino workers (OFWs)
abroad in response to the global economy’s growing needs, according
to Labor Undersecretary Manuel G. Imson.
Imson said that at the recent Philippine launching of the
International Labor Organization’s (ILO) pilot program on decent
work, the US itself expressed preference for skilled Filipino
workers.
He said that he spoke recently with officials of the US State
Department, Labor Department, and the Pentagon regarding the
Philippine efforts to improve the global deployment of OFWs.
A former labor attaché to Washington, D.C., Imson said that US
officials were supportive of the Philippine bid, adding that US
officials themselves recognized the competence of Filipino workers.
Imson said his US sortie was part of the overseas marketing mission
of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE). The effort
embraces Europe and other areas which also have expressed preference
for Filipino workers.
"They have been very supportive," Imson said, noting that key US
agencies and groups he spoke with were particularly impressed with
Filipino professionals, especially nurses, computer specialists and
engineers.
He said that despite conservative US policy and its quota on foreign
workers, the officials have indicated the possibility of increasing
the numbers of Filipino professionals getting accepted in US jobs,
including teaching.
Imson said that in his meeting with Pentagon officials, he made them
aware of the capacity of the Philippines to deploy skilled Filipino
workers to work in US facilities around the world.
"We are now in the process of identifying where these opportunities
are," he said, adding that a possible follow-up meeting with the
concerned US agencies would be held by June.
Imson indicated that on top of the possibility that more Filipinos
would find jobs in US military installations, the hiring of Filipino
workers in the US homeland also seemed to be on the uptrend.
"At any given time we’d have 45,000 workers in the US despite the
yearly quota limiting foreign workers to 65,000," Imson said. The
45,000 workers exclude permanent Filipino migrants, he added.
In the past three years, Imson said, there was an uptrend in the
acceptance of Filipino workers with high-end skills in the US
computer field.
Imson said that while Filipino nurses in the US have not increased
so much, they continued to be preferred despite expiry of the
program covering their deployment. "We are working for a bigger
quota for our nurses in the US," he said.
He said under the "III-C program," the quota for foreign nurses now
in the US is only about 500 nurses a year.
The US Congress is reviewing the quota as unconfirmed reports
indicated that US hospitals would need as many as 10,000 nurses,
Imson said, adding that Filipinos accounted for 90 percent of the
availment under the previous III-A program.
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