Job Opportunities for Displaced OFWs Laid Out

To help OFWs who lost jobs due to the pandemic, the government laid out plans to help them get back on track through upskilling and new job opportunities in the country.

The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) developed plans to create jobs and trainings for displaced OFWs through the National Employment Recovery Strategy (NERS).

TESDA Deputy Director-General Lina Sarmiento said that one of TESDA’s strategies is reskilling and upskilling of local talents and that they will try to reach out to displaced OFWs to train local talents with their experience and expertise they acquired from abroad.

“We don’t only give training opportunities, but we also invite them to join us and provide knowledge to our countrymen,” Sarmiento said.

Meanwhile, DTI’s Bureau of Small and Medium Enterprise Development will boost its livelihood program for the displaced OFWs.

“In the case of DTI, our primary concern is to recover business because we all know that the source of employment is generally the enterprises,” Clavesillas said.

The DTI will also provide displaced OFWs entrepreneurship trainings.

Displaced OFWs are also encouraged to look for new job opportunities here in the country — the NERS task force will also be holding an online job fair on Labor Day, May 1, 2021.

Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) Assistant Secretary Dominique Rubia-Tutay said that the displaced OFWs are not hindered to go back abroad to work, however, the strict border restrictions due to the pandemic may prevent OFWs to go back to their jobs. (ASC)