2,941 Pinoys left Philippines daily in 2007

http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/storypage.aspx?StoryId=104672

An average of 2,941 Filipinos left the Philippines every day to work abroad last year, preliminary data from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration revealed Monday. A report from POEA Administrator Rosalinda Baldoz to Labor and Employment Secretary Arturo Brion showed that total deployment registered a one percent increase from 1,062,567 in 2006 to 1,073,402 last year. The increase was largely seen in landbased workers as the number rose 2.7 percent, from 788,070 to 809,740 for a daily average of 2,218. Baldoz said the number of Filipinos rehired by foreign employers surged 5.9 percent, from 470,390 in 2006 to 498,142 last year. She said the POEA sent out an average of 1,365 new overseas Filipino workers a day in 2007.The increase in landbased workers was, however, offset by a decrease in seabased workers, from 274,497 in 2006 to 263,662 in 2007. On a per day basis, 722 seafarers were leaving the country every day in 2007.The POEA clarified that the deployment figure was still lower than the number of contracts processed, perhaps owing to the large number of rehires who already had existing employers and existing contracts.Although the total figures showed that the POEA surpassed their target by 20 percent, Baldoz said they processed 1.1 percent less contracts in 2007. In 2007, they prepared 1,208,220 new contracts as compared to 1,221,417 in 2007.Total contracts processed for landbased workers actually decreased 10.4 percent from 866,090 in 2006 to 775,659 in 2007. In contrast, total contracts processed for seabased workers rose 21.7 percent in 2007 to 432,561 from 355,327 in 2006. This was not enough, however, to offset the decrease in contracts of landbased workers processed by the POEA.