2020 Japan Olympics Will Boost Demand for OFWs

MANILA: Japan market is witnessing a robust demand for skilled overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in various industries in the run-up to the East Asian country’s hosting of the Olympics in 2020.

“We heard there are many requests for construction workers, hotel housekeepers and groundskeepers. We’re trying to set up partnerships between our company and our principals in Japan,” Business Mirror quoted Bert Bravo, Manpower service provider Facilities Managers  Inc. (FMI) president and CEO, as saying.

The demand for English-speaking and skilled workers in these industries is seen to spike as the Japanese government prepares to host the international sporting event in 2020, the report said.

“We project that by 2017, we should be able to add between 500 and 1,000 workers just for the Japanese markets, but probably may also include Singapore and Taiwan,” Bravo reportedly said.

The projection of deployed workers is only a “conservative” estimate, he said.

Most, if not all, of these workers will be sourced from Bravo’s own technical-vocational institution, the Facilities Management Academy, rebranded as the Ubix Institute of Technology, said the news portal.

Since its creation in 2000, the institution produced 10,000 graduates, a majority of whom have been able to find employment abroad.

Bravo is upbeat on the prospects as Japan’s government is reportedly mulling over the expansion of a foreign “trainee program” to lengthen the validity of foreign workers’ period of stay, he reportedly said.

On an average, Filipino workers earn an average net pay of about $800, the Business Mirror reported.

(Source: FilipinoTimes.ae)