The Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) looks to fill a high demand for Filipino labor in European nations like the Czech Republic, Austria, Hungary, Finland, Denmark, and Portugal.
According to the DMW, the demand for Filipinos in the continent has been strong, particularly baristas, caregivers, home workers, housekeepers, and health care providers.
“We have been told that the demand for OFWs is all over Europe,” DMW Undersecretary Patricia Yvonne Caunan said.
“They are impressed with the performance of our workers, their mentality, and their attitude. These are the usual reasons given to us why they want to hire more OFWs,” she added.
Increased cooperation
Meanwhile, per the DMW Undersecretary Officer-in-Charge Hans Leo Cacdac, the department is working harder to create bilateral labor agreements and long-term recruitment frameworks as a result of the rising demand for OFWs in Europe.
“We really welcome the openness of our European counterparts to talk about enhancing the protection of our OFWs. We welcome the cooperation of our European counterparts to [ensure] safe, ethical, transparent, fair labor mobility,” he said.
However, Cacdac issued a warning, claiming that unlawful recruiters and traffickers have been preying on Filipino job seekers by taking advantage of the openness of the labor market in Europe.
“As we can see, these illegal recruiters we have been closing usually offer European jobs because those are really enticing victims,” he said.
Workers throughout the years
Over 2,000 OFWs were sent to the Czech Republic in the previous year, before blowing up to 10,500 slots reserved for Filipino employees this year, according to DMW.
Meanwhile, Hungary welcomed 6,000 OFWs in the previous year alone, after only accommodating 4,000 OFWs in the prior decade.
In 2022, 80.8 percent of OFWs were hosted by Asian countries, compared to 9% by European countries.
“Given the engagements we are having, we can see that deployment to Europe definitely will increase. For 2024, we are expecting an increasing trend," Caunan said
