President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo announced Monday that 500,000 job vacancies are available for Filipino workers abroad despite the global economic slowdown. As she spoke, however, labor authorities revealed that the number of workers who have lost their jobs and those whose pay and working hours have been cut has reached 85,000 since October last year. The job losses continued despite the launching of pump-priming projects by the Arroyo government aimed at averting lay-offs. “In local employment, 39,309 Filipino workers employed in 435 establishments in the country were displaced while there were 45,306 workers who have been subjected to flexible working arrangement,” said Manuel Laopao, officer-in-charge of the labor department's Bureau of Labor and Employment Statistics (BLES). Arroyo, however, still sounded optimistic as she pledged to pour more funds in training to match Filipino labor skills with those required in the market. “I'm very glad to hear … that there are 500,000 jobs available abroad. We lost 5,000 jobs. For every worker who lost his or her job, 100 are waiting depending on their skills,” she said at a forum on overseas employment in Malacanang. “The jobs are there but the challenge is to match jobs with skills,” she told around 200 representatives from the government and private sectors gathered at the second job forum she initiated this year. Labor Secretary Marianito Roque said the 500,000 new overseas job opportunities are “actual job orders for Filipinos” mainly in the construction sector as well as oil and gas maintenance services in the Middle East, Canada, and Australia. For the estimated 500,000 students graduating this year, Roque said they have already generated 800,000 new jobs that could meet the labor demand. The latest report from the labor department said 5,332 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) have so far lost their jobs from 17 host countries. However, Roque said the layoffs overseas have slowed down as foreign employers realized that their operations would eventually suffer if they continue to lay off more workers. He said in Taiwan, one of the Asian countries hardest-hit by the global economic malaise, the number of Filipino workers displaced from their jobs has dwindled despite the closure of more factories. Taiwan recorded the highest number of retrenched OFWs with 4,197. The workers were employed in 83 firms engaged in electronics, metal works and semi-conductors. The labor department report said more Filipino workers lost their jobs locally than those who were displaced abroad. The report showed that the most affected sector is the manufacturing industry where 64,915 Filipino workers felt the brunt of the crisis through retrenchments, job rotation, compressed work and leave scheme. It is followed by electronics with 29,507, and garments sector with 5,186. The same labor department report showed that the number of those affected by the economic meltdown increased from 80,356 in the previous month to 84,615 last February. The bulk of affected local workers came from Region 4-A with 49,613. They were either working in Laguna or Cavite where manufacturing and electronics industries are located. In the Caraga region, workers displaced totalled 4,276. They came from mining and wood-based industries of Surigao Sur and Norte, while 2,377 lost their jobs in Mactan and Mandaue cities in Cebu province.
