More Filipino HSWs Required in Qatar
DOHA: With Indonesian government announcing ban on sending household workers to 21 Middle Eastern nations, demand for Filipino household service workers (HSWs) in Qatar is expected to increase, a senior official of the Philippine Overseas Labour Office (POLO) in Doha has said.
Labour attaché Leopoldo De Jesus was quoted as saying by Gulf Times that the number of Filipina HSWs arriving in Qatar has increased since June 2014, adding that the trend will continue due to the increasing number of job orders from recruitment agencies.
Reportedly, POLO receives an average of 70 to 75 contracts of HSWs from various manpower agencies in Qatar daily for verification and processing.
About 85 percent of the total applications passed the screening and the remaining 15 percent may have failed the medical tests.
De Jesus reportedly said employers have also complied with the minimum $400 (about QR1,460) monthly salary for Filipino HSWs being imposed by the Philippine government.
Despite the rising demand, he added that they are still trying to control the number of HSWs per additional job order to only 25 per recruitment agency.
De Jesus was quoted as saying by the news report that only those foreign recruitment agencies which comply with the rules and regulations set by the Philippine government and that have a clean record of no complaints from workers will be allowed to deploy Filipino HSWs.
De Jesus also reportedly said that distressed overseas Filipino workers at POLO are being provided livelihood trainings to make them gain productive employment when they are finally repatriated to the Philippines.
“We ensure that distressed OFWs at the center are taken care of, and equipped with a higher level of skills to increase their employment prospects once they return to the Philippines,” he was quoted as saying by Gulf Times.