Saudi prince: No job loss for OFWs

More health workers to be hired by Mideast kingdom

MANILA, Philippines -- Despite the global financial crisis, overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in Saudi Arabia need not worry after Saudi Prince Khalid bin Saud bin Khalid gave assurances there will be no job losses for the more than 1 million OFWs the Middles Eastern kingdom.

At Tuesday night's inauguration of the new Saudi embassy building, the prince said his country is in fact looking to hire at least 6,000 Filipino health professionals like doctors and nurses in the next three year.

Saudi Arabia also needs more engineers and other skilled workers, he said.

"We will be increasing the number of Filipinos in Saudi…The global economic crisis will not affect the people of the Philippines in Saudi," he said.

"We are targeting an increase of above the current one million Filipinos in Saudi and this is the first time that we will welcome Filipino doctors [to] Saudi," he added.

For his part, Saudi ambassador to Manila Mohammed Ameen Wali said Filipino workers who have been retrenched in the United States and Europe due to the financial crunch are now looking for jobs in Saudi.

"Every day, we process at least 800 to 900 jobs for Filipinos here [in the embassy] for deployment in Saudi. They are the ones who have lost their jobs in the US and Europe," he said.

Earlier, Labor Secretary Marianito Roque quoted the ambassador as saying Saudi Arabia is willing to hire all OFWs who have lost their jobs in other parts of the world.

The Saudi prince said the health professionals are needed for the cities of Jeddah, Riyadh, and Dammam.

Prince Khalid said the foreign manpower needs of the oil-rich kingdom have evolved from less skilled household service workers to highly skilled professionals. - Veronica Uy, INQUIRER.net, January 21, 2009