Nursing dreams turns sour in the Phillipines

[steppybay]

Yes, it's so true for any PH nurses now trying to find a job in the homeland or globally. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-18575810

4 July 2012 Last updated at 20:55 ET By Kate McGeown BBC News, ManilaIf you go into an American hospital, a Japanese elderly care centre, a British hospice or even the clinics at the centre of the recent violence in Libya and Syria, you are likely to find a nurse from the Philippines working there.Filipinos' reliability and high level of English, coupled with the fact they are willing to accept jobs almost anywhere in the world, have proved a lifeline for many countries in need of nurses and care-workers. It is an arrangement that has always seemed to work well for the Philippines too. Not only is nursing a highly respected profession here, it has also been traditionally viewed as a passport out of poverty for many.But in recent years, this dream has turned sour.There are far fewer jobs than there once were, leaving tens of thousands unemployed.

Many rural folks had to sell their carabao - their water buffalo - and even their property just to send their child to nursing school"

End Quote Catherine Castaneda Commission on Higher Education At the beginning of this year, more than 200,000 registered Philippine nurses could not find work, and an estimated 80,000 are graduating this year to join an already saturated job

[jinxedminx]

Thanks for sharing. Glad that the media has some attention on this issue.

[greenjungle]

Huge piece of news that all PH parents and PH students still entertaining ambitions of coming to the USA as RNs must pay attention to.

[pinkpuffer23]

Thank you

[pnyvibe]

Very well aware..thank you for that!:)

[steppybay]

Almost a year later since posted and after talking to a few friends there, it's only getting worse in the numbers of unemployed nurses, given the new PH grads that's in the several 10,000's coming on-line....so sad...

Within this same year's time period, Canada has now closed the doors as nurses are no longer considered in demand, AU increased the actual working experience years to be considered and many USA states are enforcing the concurrency rules (with CA still the top #1 state to get into, still with very high unemployment nursing rates) is slowly closing the door also. Of course, the job market globally is still in the slumps, with many unable to hire on new grads or nurses (even some with years of experience).

A recent NY hospital are closing their doors and many employed nurses there having to scramble to find another job. One can read where in Canada, they are laying off the nurses. Harsh but true reality in today's modern world.

[Fiona59]

Very true, steepybay. I work in Alberta and AHS (the main employer of nurses) has indeed started layoffs and "restructuring".

Basically, any nurse with less than five years seniority is at risk of layoff or being bumped out of their job.

It really isn't worth applying here. There are scores of applications for every job.

[Ginger's Mom, MSN, RN]

I hate to say this but if you look at this board, people were warned this was going to happen when the economy tanked in 2009. Tough time for all. If you look hard enough, it really started with retrogression which started in 2006. So I do not know why people entered nursing thinking it is a portable occupation.

[renzlao, MSN, APRN]

In my unit (BC) some RNs were laid off as well after they restructured the RN hours from 8-hour shift to 12-hour shift.

[greenjungle]

This is simply the unbreakable law of supply and demand at work. Too many nurses, not enough jobs.