More job opportunities abroad will be opened to Filipinos following a bilateral labor agreement between the Philippines and Romania.
In a statement on Monday, the Department of Labor and Employment said Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III and Romanian Embassy Chargè d’Affaires Mihail Sion signed a memorandum of understanding last week for the deployment of more overseas Filipino workers to the European nation.
Sion said the move may help ease the rampant unemployment experienced by OFWs due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has already forced over half a million to return home as of April.
“Romania is a good opportunity for Filipinos to potentially work as hospital caregivers and skilled workers,” the envoy said, adding migrants from other Asian countries, such as Vietnam, Nepal, and India, have also come to the country for work.
There are currently only around 1,500 OFWs in Romania, most of whom are in the health and safety as well as transportation sectors, the DOLE said. This number accounts for around 20% of Romania’s total foreign workforce, it added,
According to the department, Romania is the seventh European nation that the Philippines have forged a bilateral labor agreement with, following the United Kingdom, Germany, Czech Republic, Switzerland, Italy, and Spain.