Israel is eyeing to hire more workers from the Philippines with the warm diplomatic ties between Manila and Tel Aviv.
The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) said a contingent from Israel will be arriving next month to discuss the hiring of more overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) for its hotel industry through another bilateral labor agreement.
“By November 4, they are coming for another bilateral talks for hotel workers,” Labor Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III said in an interview.
During the talks, representatives from the Philippines and Israel will also discuss the details of their recently signed bilateral accord.
The labor agreement was signed by President Duterte last month during his visit in Israel together with other accords on science and investment.
Bello said they are anticipating the labor agreement will attract more Filipino caregivers to work in Israel since it will significantly cut down their recruitment fees.
The labor chief said the government-to-government labor arrangement is expected to reduce the recruitment fees of Filipino caregivers to just $2,000 from $8,000 to $12,000.
He said those who will avail themselves of the program would only have to pay for “necessary expenses” like for their plane fare and health insurance.
The labor official said this would prevent excessive recruitment fees for Filipinos aspiring to work in Israel.
The DOLE said the accord would raise the number of OFWs bound for Israel in the coming months.
“The Israeli [government] is keen on getting our Filipino caregivers because they prefer them over and above other nationalities,” Bello said.
Israel is currently among the top 10 destination countries of OFWs in the Middle East next to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, Bahrain and Jordan.
Based from the initial data from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA), 6,676 OFWs were deployed in the Middle East country in 2017.
The Department of Foreign Affairs said there are currently 29,000 Filipinos in Israel. Around 24,000 of these Filipinos work as caregivers.