Almost Half a Million Registered Nurses Without Jobs in the Philippines
The Philippine Regulation Commission (PRC) admitted recently that there are about 400,000 Registered Nurses in the country today that are jobless – that’s almost half a million people jobless! (Is this oversupply or what?)
PRC commissioner Ruth Padilla states there is not enough demand locally for our Pinoy nurses and only about 60,000 posts are currently occupied in both private and public sectors.
The demand for nurses has continued to decline over the past month and the government is trying very hard to bring back more demands from foreign countries including even our ASEAN neighbors. The PRC boasted that our registered nurses are still far more better in qualifications when compared to their ASEAN counterparts hence the potential for sourcing in Asia is a welcome opportunity.
But soon other countries are expected to rise as a competitor to the Pinoy registered nurses qualification. It’s not a matter of if but when this will happen. In the light of this, the government is pushing for more updated education and rigid training for all nursing graduates to keep up with the pace of the modern times and nursing requirements worldwide.
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Looking for US Visa Retrogression (Backlog) News and Updates?
People are asking us if we have any US Visa Retrogression news and updates for them. There has been a lot of talks about this issue again lately because of the perceived oversupply of nurses in the Philippines. But what is the real reason why so many people are looking for the US Visa retrogression news and updates?
It is the fact that many Pinoy nurses prefers to still work in the US.
Pinoys still desperately believe that the key to their being rich is in the US mainland. With what is happening now in the Philippine local economy and the world economic crisis, we can’t blame Filipinos to dream big in the US even if the US economy is still dwindling. This is one of the primary reasons why most high school graduates, even if they dont want Nursing personally, will take up Nursing as they are led to believe that nursing is their ticket to America.
But with limitations that the US retrogression offers, the long wait and dying hopes is frustrating many people mostly nursing graduates. In the meantime, what will the nurses do. Even the call centers are rumored to reject nursing students to become call center agents. So if they stay in the Philippines, what else will they do? For some, they will most likely take odd jobs and shortchange themselves for what’s their worth.
With the worldwide aspiration to go to the US competing at each other, we can only imagine that the backlog (retrogression) of US Visa will continue to be a major hindrance for many Filipinos to go to the States. The only real hope in the horizon is the passing of the US Emergency Nursing Supply Release Act of 2008 or HR 5924.
For the latest update on retrogression, here is the latest July 2008 US Visa Bulletin.
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Call Center Companies in the Philippines are Not Eager to Hire Nursing Graduates as Call Center Agents
Call center companies in the Philippines are not really eager to hire nursing graduates to work as call center agents – rumor says.
Right now, there are many nursing graduates who are still waiting for their applications to be approved locally or abroad. Many of them are already registered nurses (board passers) but was told to wait for a while due to the oversupply scenario we seems to be having now.
These group of nursing hopefuls have to look for a job temporarily while waiting for their visas or applications to be approved. They have to at least help to recoup some of their expenses during their studies in college to become a nurse. Without any slot in local hospitals, what is their next best choice?
The call center industry in the Philippines is the next best job opportunity.
Call centers and BPO companies are thriving in the Philippines for several years now. And there is big hope in the horizon, based on recent reports from economic and business forecasters, that the industry will bring in more jobs in the future. Many college graduates from different professions end up in the call center if they can’t find a job suited to what they studied for. The same is now true for nursing graduates.
However, rumor has it that not many call center companies today are keen on getting these nursing graduates in the industry because of the very poor turnout of quality English speakers. Call center companies are very particular with how the applicants express themselves in English. It is highly probable that the nursing graduates have been tagged as poor English speakers – which I strongly disagree.
Add to this is the doubts of long term commitment from the nursing graduates since they are just waiting for their VISAs or work permits to go abroad to be approved. I think this one is a valid concern. One applicant said that as soon as the recruiters found out that they are nursing graduates, the recruiters are not interested anymore.
No one can blame the call center companies. The call center agents are typically trained for some time and it entails much costs to be invested in them by these companies. On top of that, competition in the industry triggers more costs for hiring making the call center companies become more selective of the candidates that are dedicated and committed to work for the industry to ensure greatest return for their money.
If this is the case, then the future is gloomy for the future nurses. If the oversupply is not addressed and the demand is not created by the Philippine government, we will have a nursing pool added to our unemployment rate.
We certainly hope that the call center industry would bring in more from the nursing profession and remove such discrimination over nursing graduates if these rumors are even true.
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When Nursing is Not a Lucrative Profession Anymore for Future Pinoy Nurses
Recent reports have suggested that Nursing is not a lucrative profession anymore for future Pinoy nurses.
This came after PNA revealed that job opportunities for Pinoy nurses are not as promising as it used to. Now future nursing students are advised to think twice before taking the nursing course. Those that think that this nursing profession is their ticket to success by working abroad is in for a big disappointment.
The culprit is the big drop in demand for nurses abroad mainly in the US and UK. Now, local hospitals like the Philippine General Hospital (PGH) and St. Lukes Medical Center have serious backlogs to consider as nursing applicants are advised to wait 6 to 12 months.
Despite this, nursing schools continue to lure students to enroll which further fuel the over supply of nurses in the country. The PNA blamed these schools for commercializing the profession thus more and more high school graduates are entering the nursing profession yearly.
In our earlier report, Nursing is the top choice amongst enrollees this year based on CHED reports. This commercialization of the profession also raise up the tuition cost of becoming a nurse and other expenses for those planning to go abroad.
Now, more than ever, CHED should be able to provide governance to the nursing schools. Recent reports showed that CHED still failed to clamp down on incompetent nursing schools which add more insult to the injury the profession is taking in right now.
So what’s in store for our nursing graduates this year? That is something the Philippine government should really be concerned with if they cannot create demand outside the United States and the UK soonest.
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