In a statement, DMW Secretary Susan Ople urged displaced Saudi OFWs to take advantage of the special job fair that will offer over 11,000 overseas and 6,000 local job opportunities.
“We will be holding a series of special job fairs for OFWs, whose companies in Saudi Arabia declared bankruptcy as far back as 2015-2016,” Ople said.
The DMW said there will be 46 land-based recruitment agencies that will offer 8,000 job openings, as well as seven manning agencies that will offer almost 3,000 sea-based job opportunities.
It noted that overseas job offerings are mostly in the Middle East (Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates); Europe (Croatia, Germany, Hungary); Asia (Brunei, China, Japan, Hongkong, Malaysia, Singapore); and Oceania (Australia, New Zealand).
The top three countries with overseas job offers are New Zealand with 1,746 jobs; Hong Kong with 935; and Saudi Arabia with 832.
The DMW said in-demand job categories range from highly skilled and professional workers to low-skilled work.
Among the largest worker category openings abroad are for medical professionals, specifically nurses at 1,225; and semi-skilled workers or carpenters at 500.
Ople said local employment opportunities numbering to 4,526 are also set to be offered by five private employers.
He said the Public Employment Services Offices (Peso) and the Department of Labor and Employment will also be offering 1,440 job vacancies.
Some 9,000 OFWs were repatriated from Saudi Arabia between January 2016 to December 2019 after they were displaced from their jobs coupled with unpaid wages and benefits.
Hundreds of OFWs are also regularly repatriated by the DMW and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration due to various reasons. (HDT/SunStar Philippines)