OFW deployment still below prepandemic levels

MANILA  -The number of deployed overseas Filipino workers (OFW) had yet to return to prepandemic level as of 2022, as labor markets around the world cautiously reopened their borders to migrant workers.

There were an estimated 1.96 million OFWs last year, still below the 2019 level when it was estimated at 2.2 million, results of a survey by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) released Wednesday showed.

But the figure was 7.6 percent higher than the 1.83 million recorded in 2021, showing a sustained uptrend since the pandemic cut OFW deployment by nearly a fifth in 2020 to 1.77 million.

This, in turn, means OFWs were able to send more money to their families at home. PSA data showed remittances—which include cash and in-kind transfers—amounted to P197.47 billion in 2022, up 30.5 percent compared to the previous year. About P83.19 billion, or 57.2 percent of the total cash remittances, were coursed through banks.

Jeremiah Opiniano, professor at the University of Santo Tomas and executive director at the Institute for Migration and Development Issues, said that while virus fears had eased, foreign labor markets still “have not fully reopened even if the world had become more mobile”.

Returning overseas workers

But Opiniano said the latest data “provides a sigh of relief” as it could mean that many OFWs who flew back home when the pandemic struck were able to return abroad.

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“Whether they have returned abroad or not these past two years is the question, especially returnees with no business acumen and cannot run a business during their return migration and reintegration,” he added.

The PSA survey covered Filipinos working abroad from April to September 2022.

Broken down, 98.7 percent of OFWs last year had existing work contracts while the rest were full-time employees without working visas or work permits such as tourist, visitor, student, medical and other types of non-immigrant visas.

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Saudi Arabia remained the top destination of OFWs in 2022. Survey data showed four in ten OFWs were engaged in elementary occupations such as housework, cleaning and restocking supplies and performing basic maintenance. INQ