The number of Filipino factory workers being hired in Taiwan and South Korea dropped and this trend is expected to continue until next year according to the Philippine recruitment industry. The slowdown on OFW deployment n other neighboring Asian countries may also continue for the nest two years. This is amidst reports that OFWs are relatively unaffected by the global economic crisis.

The vice president of the Federated Association of Manpower Exporters (FAME), Jackson Gan said, “We used to deploy 40,000 workers to Taiwan, but we have only sent about 37,000 at this time.”

He also said that business firms in Taiwan have informed them that a freeze in the deployment of OFWs in Taiwan is possible to happen in 2009.

Gan said, “Taiwanese businessmen told us that they will not be laying off workers, but they will also not be hiring additional foreign workers in the coming years. So we are no longer getting additional job orders from Taiwan at this time.”

Meanwhile, since the labor agreement between the government of the Philippines and South Korea was not renewed, hiring of OFWs there is also expected to decline. Also, the program for deployment of factory workers to Taiwan expired last September of this year and is yet to be renewed.

To provide overseas jobs for Filipinos, Gan urged the Department of Labor and employment (DOLE) to lift the ban of OFW deployment in Iraq and other countries. He said, “The situation in Iraq has already normalized, so it’s about time for our government to lift the ban in Iraq as well as the travel ban in Nigeria, Lebanon, and Jordan.”

The vice of President of FAME also emphasized that Iraq may hire an estimate of 30,000 OFWs while more or less 25,000 Filipinos can find job opportunities in Lebanon.

Gan said, “Since the government refuses to lift the ban, thousand of Filipino have sneaked into Lebanon.”

According to Gan, the group responsible to assess the state of affairs in the countries mentioned, the Presidential; Task Force Preparedness Team for the Middle East, has not presented any recommendation.