Qatar Needs More Filipino Workers
MANILA, Philippines – There are some 100,000 job opportunities for Filipinos in Qatar, as the country is in the midst of a construction boom as it prepares to host the FIFA World Cup in 2022.
The Philippine Embassy in Doha said Qatar’s Deputy Minister of Labor and Social Affairs Hussein bin Youssef Al-Mulla Al-Mulla informed the Philippine delegation during a meeting that the more than 94,000 visas reserved for Filipino workers will soon be deployed.
The Philippines and Qatar convened the 2nd Joint Committee Meeting on Labor Matters from February 4-5 in Doha.
Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) chief Hans Leo J. Cacdac said the Philippines received 78,426 job orders from Qatar.
Cacdac said identified the sectors with the most job opportunities for overseas Filipino workers as health, construction, services, and production.
Al-Mulla reminded the Philippines that Article 33 of the Qatari Labor Law prohibits the payment of recruitment fees.
Cacdac said the POEA will issue a warning to OFWs not to pay recruitment fees for jobs to Qatar.
Qatar is also said to be finishing the draft law to protect household service workers (HSWs). At present, HSWs are outside the jurisdiction of Qatari labor law.
There are more than 1.6 million foreign workers in Qatar.
However, there are reports of labor abuses by companies in Qatar. The Walk Free Foundation’s 2nd annual Global Slavery Index showed Qatar was the fourth worst country for prevalence of modern slavery.
Reuters said the report showed “29,400 people, or 1.4 percent of Qatar’s population, are estimated to be working as slaves, in forced labor or domestic servitude.”