QUEZON CITY, (PIA) --In the course of the next couple of years, Austria has a demand for around 60,000 to 75,000 healthcare professionals with an additional 200,000 job openings across all industries, according to Professor Gunther Wiesinger.
Wiesinger, led the high-level delegation from Austria that visited the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) Tuesday afternoon to discuss employment opportunities for Filipino workers in Austria.
Migrant Workers Secretary Susan Ople considers Austria as a promising labor market for overseas Filipinos given its high demand for skilled workers from around the world.
Ople thanked the members of the Austrian delegation for their interest in the hiring of Filipino workers and for choosing to collaborate with the DMW in ensuring that fair and ethical principles are upheld as part of any recruitment and hiring initiatives.
The DMW secretary also briefed the members of the delegation on the Philippine government’s initiatives to ensure that there are enough nurses and other healthcare workers in the country to serve the local population.
She informed the delegation of the DMW’s plan to launch a scholarship fund for nursing students in close coordination with the Department of Health and the Commission on Higher Education.
“Upon the advice of the Department of Foreign Affairs, we would need to sign a Memorandum of Understanding to set the tone and define the parameters of our partnership with the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber and the Federal State of Vienna,” Ople said.
She noted that both the Philippines and Austria belong to the Tier 1 category in the US State Department’s Trafficking in Persons Report, which means they have sufficient mechanisms and laws to prevent human trafficking.
Per CY 2022 data of the DMW, there are around 5,824 OFWs in Austria with around 1,220 of these workers in the hospitality and food service sector and 749 in the health and social work service.
