Despite Global Crisis: S. Australia, UK, Canada eye RP workers

By Jerome Aning
Philippine Daily Inquirer
Posted date: November 23, 2008

MANILA, Philippines--Amid the global financial crisis, South Australia would still recruit Filipino workers to address a perennial skills shortage in the Australian state, the Department of Labor and Employment said on Sunday.

Labor Secretary Marianito Roque said preparations were underway for Philippine and South Australian cooperation on the recruitment of Filipino workers.

"Thus the recruitment of OFWs to South Australia would be orderly, ethical and in line with the laws and policies of the Philippines and of Australia," said Roque in a statement.

South Australia is the fourth largest of Australia’s six states and two territories.

British Ambassador to the Philippines Peter Beckingham, meanwhile, said Filipinos would be much welcome to work in the United Kingdom despite the financial crisis.

Speaking to reporters during the opening of the British consultancy firm International Student Advisors 4U Ltd., Beckingham said overseas Filipino workers continued to make a "valuable contribution" to the UK by providing quality work.

The British Borders and Immigration Agency recently released a national occupation shortages list which included engineers, doctors, nurses and teachers.

Canada will maintain its policy of encouraging immigration to meet labor shortages despite the worldwide financial crisis, according to Jason Kenney, minister for immigration.

Interviewed Friday in Kiev, Kenney said, "Obviously, the economic crisis worries us a great deal... but we believe it would be counterproductive to cut off a labor supply from those sectors of the economy that are still growing by reducing immigration levels."

Prospective immigrants, he said, could include "nurses from the Philippines, heavy equipment operators from Ukraine and consumer software designers from India."