No Massive Displacement of OFWs?

[jpdm]

Business Mirror
December 12, 2008
Sarah Fabunan


AMID the raging global economic slowdown that has resulted in retrenchments of hundreds of thousands of workers, including overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) chief stressed on Thursday there is still no “massive” displacement of OFWs since the deployment of Filipino workers for jobs in various countries remains robust.


Labor Secretary Marianito Roque said the projected displacement of over half a million OFWs due to the crisis is quite unlikely. He cited reports from 34 Philippine Overseas Labor Offices (POLOs) in various job destinations abroad that did not indicate massive displacements of OFWs due to the crisis.


“The financial crisis has not yet affected OFW deployment as the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration [POEA] continues to process the deployment of close to 3,000 OFWs who leave the country for overseas employment daily,” Roque said.


He said the number of OFWs who have so far lost their jobs overseas have already gone home; the situation is not alarming as they only constitute part of an average of 1,000 OFWs who return to the country every month.

“The returning OFWs also included those whose employment contracts abroad had expired,” Roque added.


The rate of OFW job cutbacks in the middle of a financial crisis is within the “normal level,” he said, or just as much as 2007 figures.


Based on POEA records, 1.116 million OFWs were deployed from January to October this year, up by a robust 25.5 percent or an additional 227,780 compared with the 888,339 OFWs deployed worldwide in the same period in 2007.


Based on the assessment of POLOs, in the Middle East, the employment of OFWs remains secure as the financial institutions in countries in the region are “liquid.”


OFWs in Europe are also secure since most of them are engaged in essential occupations.


The labor markets in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Guam and Japan are stable and are expanding to provide more employment opportunities to OFWs.


Moreover, leaders of the ship manning industry also reported that some crew of cruise ships who were displaced have been placed with other vessels while others are under process for deployment. In fact, the maritime sector is still experiencing a shortage of seafarers.


Roque said his department, in collaboration with the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration and the POEA, will assist OFWs displaced in Taiwan and elsewhere should they fail to get their wages and other benefits from their employers or brokers.


Local workers who may be displaced due to the crisis will be given livelihood assistance under the adjustment measures and income-augmentation programs.

The government has this bad habit of "massaging" figures/data.

This is contrary to what I been hearing from families of many OFWs that I have interviewed.

The fact is that many OFWs are losing their jobs because of the global and not just the US recession.

Electronics, automotive, petroleum and shipping are most hit.

Anyway, I have some reservation about this news...

What do you think?

[uls]

i remember the govt coming out with a statement that the World Bank has a $10B bailout fund for poor countries to help weather the crisis

the WB denied it had such a bailout fund

the Phil. govt is out of touch with reality.

the local news writers naman are too inward looking... their articles sound like the Philippines is insulated from the rest of the world

[CVT]

I hope that's true,- but we know better.

This government that we have are a bunch of liars, in one form or the other. Still, it's a lie....

7101:hooray:

[ghosthunter]

The spin doctors are in town.

[[archie]]

i remember the govt coming out with a statement that the World Bank has a $10B bailout fund for poor countries to help weather the crisis

the WB denied it had such a bailout fund

the Phil. govt is out of touch with reality.

the local news writers naman are too inward looking... their articles sound like the Philippines is insulated from the rest of the world

i think it was in the news kanina through CNN... pero they used the term "developing" countries. no details coz it was just flashing at the bottom of the screen.

[safeorigin]

lol, maybe what they're referring to as developing countries would be the new addition to the G20

[uls]

but the statement was October pa

not recently

this quote from a foreign news article Nov.5, 2008:
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southea.../JK05Ae01.html

Arroyo's bizarre announcement last month that the International Monetary Fund and World Bank were preparing a US$10 billion rescue facility for regional countries - later strongly denied by both multilateral lending institutions - underscored the notion that her government is out of touch with fast-changing global financial and economic times.

[jpdm]

Manila Times
December 14, 2008


Special report


[SIZE=3]50,000 to 100,000 OFWs will lose their Jobs[/SIZE]


[SIZE=2]by Federico Macaranas
[/SIZE]
[SIZE=2]
[/SIZE]
[SIZE=2]
[/SIZE]
[SIZE=2]THE forecasts of the global economic conditions are deteriorating faster as the United States brings down the European and Japanese economies in 2009.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=2]
[/SIZE]
[SIZE=2]Yes, the cooling down in 2008 is expected to worsen through the next quarters of next year, but many analysts point to late 2009 as the beginning of an uptick in the real economy. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=2]
[/SIZE][SIZE=2]Consumer spending growth will slow down; so will private sector investment. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=2]
[/SIZE][SIZE=2]Impacts[/SIZE]
[SIZE=2] [/SIZE]
[SIZE=2]First to be impacted are about 50,000 (even up to 100,000 in the Department of Labor and Employment’s (DOLE) worst-case scenario) Filipinos working in countries already hit by credit crunches and other financial problems that have translated to slower production and hence to layoffs.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=2]
[/SIZE]
[SIZE=2]Because many overseas Filipinos hold vital jobs, some are not given termination notices; moreover, the Filipino worker is adaptable and flexible (documented in the yearly surveys of the Institute for International Management Development in Switzerland for some 60 countries). [/SIZE]
[SIZE=2]Job opportunities are also open in Canada (Alberta, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, etc.) as per DOLE and the Department of Foreign Affairs, but more doubtfully in Australia, New Zealand, France and Sweden reported in a recent AIM Policy Center forum on “Reintegrating Displaced Workers into the Local Economies.”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=2]
[/SIZE]
[SIZE=2]These countries are already in recessionary stages. Better business intelligence is needed to provide early warning signals to planners in the country.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=2]
[/SIZE]
[SIZE=2]Next to be impacted are those engaged in foreign trade, especially exporters that cannot immediately respond to changing consumer needs (modularized and knockdown furniture for smaller apartments, cheaper apparel and processed foods).[/SIZE]
[SIZE=2]
[/SIZE]
[SIZE=2]The US is the largest buyer of Philippine furniture, getting 60 percent of exports. The declining demand of US consumers for houseware and furniture would have an impact on the exports of Philippine products. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=2]In 2007, nearly 80 percent of Philippine garments exports, valued at $1.7 billion, went to the US. Trouble will begin next year if no preemptive action like looking for other markets will be taken.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=2]
[/SIZE]
[SIZE=2]Suppliers in the international supply chain—like agricultural raw materials and electronics—will be affected. The electronics industry that accounts for about two-thirds of all Philippine exports is now bracing for no growth at all.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=2]
[/SIZE]
[SIZE=2]In agriculture, corn will be a bonanza. This is reflected in the P1-billion financing aid from South Korea for post-harvest facilities and two bulk grains terminals in Mindanao and Cagayan Valley. To hike production, the Department of Agriculture will open 75,000 hectares of new cornfields. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=2]On another positive note, as cost-cutting strategies are implemented by American, European and Japanese firms, the business process outsourcing industry of the Philippines will gain clients. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=2](Dr. Federico M. Macaranas is the Executive Director of the Asian Institute of Management Policy Center.)[/SIZE]

This is more realistic...

Let wait for more developments...

[uls]

From the article above:

In agriculture, corn will be a bonanza. This is reflected in the P1-billion financing aid from South Korea for post-harvest facilities and two bulk grains terminals in Mindanao and Cagayan Valley. To hike production, the Department of Agriculture will open 75,000 hectares of new cornfields.

^^

i doubt that that corn is ours.

the Department of Agriculture probably isnt telling us the whole story

P1B financing aid from S.Korea? really? how generous

S.Korea has been leasing agricultural land in poor countries to secure its food supply

From what i've read:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environmen...uels-land-grab

Rich governments and corporations are triggering alarm for the poor as they buy up the rights to millions of hectares of agricultural land in developing countries in an effort to secure their own long-term food supplies.

Korea leasing much of Madagascar's arable land

Rising food prices have already set off a second "scramble for Africa". This week, the South Korean firm Daewoo Logistics announced plans to buy a 99-year lease on a million hectares in Madagascar. Its aim is to grow 5m tonnes of corn a year by 2023, and produce palm oil from a further lease of 120,000 hectares (296,000 acres), relying on a largely South African workforce. Production would be mainly earmarked for South Korea, which wants to lessen dependence on imports.

Middle Eastern countries also making deals for agricultural land

According to diplomats, the Saudi Binladin Group is planning an investment in Indonesia to grow basmati rice, while tens of thousands of hectares in Pakistan have been sold to Abu Dhabi investors.

Arab investors, including the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development, have also bought direct stakes in Sudanese agriculture. The president of the UEA, Khalifa bin Zayed, has said his country was considering large-scale agricultural projects in Kazakhstan to ensure a stable food supply

Even China

Even China, which has plenty of land but is now getting short of water as it pursues breakneck industrialisation, has begun to explore land deals in south-east Asia. Laos, meanwhile, has signed away between 2m-3m hectares, or 15% of its viable farmland.

Libya, Kuwait, Qatar

Libya has secured 250,000 hectares of Ukrainian farmland, and Egypt is believed to want similar access. Kuwait and Qatar have been chasing deals for prime tracts of Cambodia rice fields.

S.Korea $1B aid for OUR corn?

that corn isnt for us.

[pup2]

Maybe the corn is ours until it's time to sell it by contract?

[jpdm]

philippine Star

Si Ate Glue sa Qatar..buwiseeeet...

Sabi ng alipores ni Ate Glue, yung pagpunta nya sa Qatar, may 100,000 daw na trabahong naghihintay sa mga Pinoy dun...

...I dont believe this...baka pinagtatakpan lang ni leprecaun este Ate Glue yung junket nya sa Qatar

[True Faith]

philippine Star

Si Ate Glue sa Qatar..buwiseeeet...

Sabi ng alipores ni Ate Glue, yung pagpunta nya sa Qatar, may 100,000 daw na trabahong naghihintay sa mga Pinoy dun...

...I dont believe this...baka pinagtatakpan lang ni leprecaun este Ate Glue yung junket nya sa Qatar

Agree!puro kapalpakan!!