President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. took pride Thursday in industry and skill of Filipino workers, saying they are the country’s biggest asset, particularly as more European countries open up their labor market to foreign workers.
During a bilateral meeting Thursday with Czech Republic Prime Minister Petr Fiala, President Marcos welcomed the more enhanced people-to-people relationship with the Central European country, as well as its decision to allow more Filipino workers to join its labor market.
“[The] increase in the quota gives us an opportunity in the Philippines to have another avenue for our overseas workers who have traditionally have become rather a very large part of our economy and very large part of the contributions that they make to our economy,” Marcos said during the meeting.
“And it’s not only in terms of the remittances that they send back, the money they send back to their families. It is the good performance that they have shown in their host countries. That has been a great advantage to the Philippines, the assimilation of our people to Czech society has become an important and fruitful one,” he pointed out.
President Marcos on Thursday welcomed the government of Czech Republic’s decision to increase the quota for Filipino workers entering the country starting this May—from 5,500 to almost doubling that from January 2024 to 10,300 per year starting in May of 2024.
The Czech Republic is second home to 7,026 Filipinos working in the processing industry, automotive, repairs and appliances, manufacturing, IT communications, real estate, health/wellness, and household service work.
Started in 2018, Czech’s economic migration program allows for the entry and stay of Filipino workers in the country on a year quota: 1,000 Filipino workers per year from 2018; 2,000 per year from 2021; 2,500 per year from November 2022; and 5,500 per year from January 2024.
The Czech government announced the further increase in the quota for Filipino workers as follows: 5,500 per year beginning January 2024 and 10,300 per year beginning May 2024 – more than 900 percent increase from the initial quota of 1,000 per year in 2018.
On the same day, the two leaders also witnessed the signing of the Joint Communique on Labor Consultations Mechanism, putting in place a mechanism to discuss areas of mutual interests, including on the proper procedure in employing Filipino citizens in the Czech Republic. The mechanism was signed between the Department of Migrant Workers and the Czech Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs. PND
