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Upskilling Filipino workers for Saudi jobs

THE Kingdom of Saudi Arabia plans to hire one million Filipinos in the next two years to work in its hospitality, construction, and information and technology sectors.

This week, Migrant Workers Secretary Susan Ople is meeting with a delegation from the kingdom to discuss what looms as a massive manpower venture.

Saudi Arabia has been the leading destination for overseas Filipino workers (OFWs). Of the 1.83 million OFWs who were deployed in 2021, about 432,000 worked in the kingdom.

Secretary Susan Ople. Photo from Department of Migrant Workers FB pageSecretary Susan Ople. Photo from Department of Migrant Workers FB page

Secretary Susan Ople. Photo from Department of Migrant Workers FB page
Secretary Susan Ople. Photo from Department of Migrant Workers FB page

That number has since grown to 800,000 after the Saudi government relaxed the hiring and travel restrictions it imposed at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Filipinos prefer working in Saudi Arabia. For one, it pays higher wages to immigrant workers than its Gulf neighbors. It also has a high standard of living, and provides a bigger opportunity for career advancement.

According to a 2021 Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) report, most multinational firms in Saudi Arabia prefer to hire Filipino accountants because of their language skills and ability to work with the local population.

A Filipino accountant can earn the equivalent of almost P160,000 a month.

Filipino nurses, sales associates and engineers also command top-tier salaries, the POEA said.

The pay scale for Filipino professionals is impressive. But according to the Philippine Statistics Authority, four of 10 deployed OFWs in 2021 are in “elementary occupations,” which involve “simple and routine tasks [that] may require the use of handheld tools and considerable physical effort.”

Domestic workers, maintenance employees and kitchen assistants are among those who perform elementary occupations. The one million Filipinos that Saudi Arabia wants to hire must possess skills that require extensive training.

Ople said her department needed to work closely with government agencies like the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority in training such a huge workforce. But already, she anticipates a more serious concern.

“We need to have a special hiring program that would accommodate their needs while also scaling up our skills training and opportunities for job internships so that there is continued sustainability for our own needs and for the needs of our external partners,” Ople said.

In other words, the secretary wants to strike a balance between upskilling the local workforce and the Filipinos seeking jobs abroad.

According to the World Economic Forum, the global trend is toward a “skills-first labor market.” There is a need to reskill more than 1 billion people by 2030. “In addition to digital skills, specialized interpersonal skills will be in high demand in the new hybrid workplace,” it said.

The Saudi offer is a litmus test to find out if the Philippines can provide a large number of workers with specific skill sets. If it passes the test, other countries, notably the United Arab Emirates and Oman, could be handing the Philippines their own list of skilled workers as well.

But job placement must not be the only agenda when Ople meets with the Saudi delegation. She must also insist that Filipino workers must be guaranteed protection from abuse by their employers, and the right to seek redress.

Among the Gulf states, the kafala system still leaves migrant workers, particularly those employed in households, vulnerable to physical and sexual abuse.

Under kafala, a migrant worker is not covered by the host country's labor laws, making them practically the slaves of the sponsor. The workers cannot change jobs or leave the host country without their sponsor's permission. To do so could mean the revocation of their visa and even imprisonment or deportation.

Then-president Rodrigo Duterte had demanded the dismantling of the kafala system to end the suffering of migrant workers “once and for all.”

Saudi Arabia made a significant step toward easing its kafala rules in 2021. A Labor Reform Initiative allowed certain foreign workers, such as those in retail and construction, the freedom to switch jobs without their current employer's consent after completing one year of their contract or when their contract expires.

The reforms are expected to cover more migrant workers as the Saudi government continues to recruit more skilled professionals.

And that's welcome news for our OFWs.

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