ELEVEN countries are currently being seen as available markets for overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) now that international travel has been eased further amid the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic.
In a televised public briefing, the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) head Bernard Olalia said there are several job markets that are now in search for OFWs, starting with Israel.
"For the first time since the pandemic began, we have started deploying our hotel workers to Israel," said Olalia.
"A total of 61 were deployed in the first batch. We still have about 400 for the next batch," he added.
Aside from hotel workers, the POEA administrator said there are 35,000 job opportunities for caregivers in Israel.
"We have over 2,000 deployed caregivers to Israel and another 2,600 awaiting for their actual deployment dates," said Olalia.
He said there is also an available market for OFWs in Germany and United Kingdom for skilled workers and health workers, respectively; while Romania, Croatia, and Hungary are all in need of skilled workers.
The POEA chief said OFWs may also find employment in Japan for skilled and professional workers, Taiwan for factory workers, and South Korea for factory workers.
Olalia said skilled workers are also in demand in New Zealand and Australia.
To recall, the OFW sector is one of the most affected industries of the Covid-19 pandemic. (HDT/SunStar Philippines)