The deployment of sea-based and rehired overseas Filipino workers (OFW) also took a major hit this year due to the novel coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic.
This pulled down the total deployment figures from January to May of this year to just 460,264, or about 53 percent lower compared to the 973,740 deployed OFWs in the same period in 2019.
According to latest deployment data of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA), the number of Filipino seafarers, who were able to sail in international waters in the first five months, fell by a whopping 62.56 percent to 80,687 from 215,482 last year.
Rehires or OFWs who have pending employment contracts abroad were also deterred by the Covid-19 crisis as their numbers significantly fell.
Only 308,587 rehires left the country from January to May, or about half of the 618,710 from last year.
On Sunday, POEA already reported new hires suffered a significant blow during the same period falling from 174,348 of last year to 70,990 this year.
Most of the reduction in the deployment figures happened on April and May after President Duterte placed the entire country under a state of national emergency because of the Covid-19, limiting travel of Filipinos.
In both months, at least 40 destination countries of OFWs also imposed their own entry restrictions.
These include Israel, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Palestine, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Brunei, China, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, Cook Islands, New Zealand, Canada, Panama and Italy.
The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and migration experts have projected the low deployment figures for OFWs will continue this year as many countries still continue to contain Covid-19 incidents in their jurisdictions.