Job opportunities available for OFWs in Qatar

MANILA – Employment opportunities await Filipino migrant workers in Qatar as the host nation will be hosting an international event in November, the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) in Doha reported on Friday.

Labor Attache Adam Musa, in a virtual forum, said more jobs in the tourism and hospitality sectors are available for workers in the Gulf nation which will host this year’s FIFA World Cup.

“As of this moment, the in demand is the hospitality industry because of the need of FIFA, also in retail outlets, tourism-related sector. Tourism industry is a good prospect that would positively impact our workers’ community, because Qatar is also inviting more tourists even after FIFA, and they will continue to sponsor world events,” the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) official added.

Musa said he is convinced that the holding of the sporting event will help improve the host nation’s economy and will create jobs.

“It would totally improve their economy. Infuse more revenue because of this world event,” he said.

Musa said they are currently processing 250 job contracts a day.

“In 2020 for a period of six months we were able to process about 3,000 workers. But now, every month more or less about 3,000. Based on that statistics, we will see there are workers who are returning and also new workers compared to 2020 figures, what I’m reporting is our 2021 figures. The gap is quite far so it proves that their economy is booming and the demand for Filipino workers is increasing,” he added.

There are some 250,000 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in the Arab nation, majority of them are household service workers (HSWs).

“About 130,000 plus are domestic workers. The rest are professionals, highly skilled, semi-skilled,” he said.

The minimum salary of Filipinos there is 1,500 riyals or more or less USD400 (around PHP20,000).

“For highly skilled workers such as engineers, they receive PHP50,000 or more,” Musa said.