Jobs opening up in European, Mexican markets

THE DEPARTMENT of Migrant Workers (DMW) is developing new job markets that are opening up in Europe and Mexico with potential hiring of over 30,000 workers, a Senator told the chamber.

“We have new markets these past few months,” Senator Erwin T. Tulfo told the Senate, sitting in plenary late Wednesday. “There are Denmark, Finland, Croatia, Slovenia, Slovakia, Hungary, Bosnia, Albania, Mexico, and Sweden.”

He added that these 10 countries have filed job orders for 30,255 positions, which were negotiated during bilateral talks.

About 10.8 million Filipinos worked overseas as of 2024, according to the Department of Foreign Affairs.

Mr. Tulfo added that the DMW has conducted about 30 bilateral meetings this year, following a query by Senator Alan Peter S. Cayetano.

“The number keeps on rising,” Mr. Tulfo added. “And there’s a lot of job orders that are active.”

Mr. Cayetano also supported a budget increase for the DMW this year to explore more markets.

“Why is DMW’s budget small compared to the size of (overseas worker) contributions?” he said.

Overseas-worker remittances rose 3.7% in September to $3.12 billion, according to the central bank.

The DMW has been allocated P11.48 billion in the Senate’s version of the 2026 national spending plan.

Meanwhile, Mr. Tulfo said that the DMW is looking to open about 10 migrant worker offices by next year to better monitor and support the welfare of overseas workers.

“If our overseas workers have many problems, the offices are built there,” he added. “We also have shelters where they can go if they are distressed.”

The DMW has about 42 migrant worker offices in 31 countries. — Adrian H. Halili