MANILA, Philippines -- The number of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) deployed to the United States and Canada doubled in 2006, Labor Secretary Arturo Brion said Friday.
Citing a report from the department's Bureau of Labor and Employment Statistics, Brion said that total OFW deployment to the US increased from only 4,128 in 2005 to 11,406 in 2006, or an increase of 7,278. He said this makes the US the 11th top destination of documented OFWs globally.
On the other hand, documented OFW deployment to Canada grew from only 3,629 to 6,413 during the same period, or an increase of 2,784. Brion said this makes Canada the 17th top destination of OFWs among more than 180 host countries worldwide.
The labor chief said these figures are significant because legally documented OFWs are "at the heart of the Philippines' internationally acknowledged global migration management system."
Brion explained that the country's global migration management system revolves around a "circular" process of migration in which skilled OFWs with legitimate work visas are properly contracted and deployed for overseas jobs.
He said that after the OFWs complete their work contract during a specified period, they return to the home country either to be reintegrated into the economic mainstream or rehired on renewed visas for overseas work.
"The Philippine system of managing migration on a global scale is recognized by no less than the United Nations, primarily because it averts and prevents illegal entry of alien workers prejudicial to both the host and home countries of migrants," Brion said.
The labor secretary attributed the initial growth in OFW deployment to Canada to the recent accord forged by his department with the Ministry of Advanced Education and Employment in Saskatchewan for "Cooperation in the Fields of Labor, Employment, and Human Resource Development."
Overall, he said, more and more OFWs are being deployed because the receiving countries need the OFWs' services and skills to boost their economic growth and to serve their graying populations.
The bureau's statistical data reveal that prior to a 176 percent (+7,278) growth to 11,406 last year, the annual deployment of documented OFWs to the US in the past five years totaled 3,405 in 2000; 4,689 in 2001; 4,058 in 2002; 3,831 in 2003; 3,831 in 2004; and 4,128 in 2005. They also show that documented OFW deployment to Canada totaled 2,020 in 2000; 3,132 in 2001; 3,535 in 2002; 4,006 in 2003; 4,453 in 2004; and 3,629 in 2005, before increasing by 76.71 percent (+2,784) to 6,413 in 2006.
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