Outlook for "New Hires" in overseas nursing jobs ..Dismal!!

Published

Philippine Overseas Employment Agency data shows USA "New Hires" of graduate nurses from the Philippines declined dramatically from a high of 373 Nurses in 2004 to a paltry 133 Nurses in 2006.

TOTAL Foreign "New Hires" to all countries dropped from 13,822 deployed in 2001 to a mere 8, 528 Nurses in 2006. With 900,000 new student nurses, where are the job prospects?

STORY BELOW:

POEA data shows a decline in deployment of new hires. (See page 42 of POEA table). From a high of 13,822 deployed new hires in 2001, deployment decreased to 8,528 in 2006. Significant drops in deployment of new hires happened in the following receiving countries:

-Saudi Arabia: from 5,626 in 2004 to 2,886 in 2006;

-United Kingdom: from 800 in 2004 to 139 in 2006;

-US: from 373 in 2004 to 133 in 2006;

-Kuwait: from 408 in 2004 to 191 in 2006;

-Qatar: from 318 in 2004 to 38 in 2006;

What then lies ahead for Filipino nurses?

In her study, "Producing the 'World-Class' Nurse: The Philippine System of Nursing and Education Supply," Kristel Acacio, a doctoral candidate of the Department of Sociology in the University of California, said nursing graduates who can't find a job abroad can go into three alternative fields: teaching, medical transcription, and call centers.

Acacio warned that if deployment of nurses continues to slow down, the Philippines will face a "great surge in unemployment as well as underemployment."

Beyond nursing

Grace Abella, vice president of the Personnel Management Association of the Philippines told abs-cbnnews.com/Newsbreak in an earlier interview that students and parents should look beyond nursing and consider alternative courses such as accountancy, engineering and information technology (IT) courses.

"Companies here and abroad are always looking for accountants, engineers, IT experts. Students should take up courses related to such professions," she said. Deployment of IT new hires has risen since 2004. (See table 26 of POEA table)

continue......

http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/storypage.aspx?StoryId=120230

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Perhaps some will now listen to what we have been saying it when they can see it in black and white. Going to school for four years and then being able to get hired in the profession that one trains for does not make any sense to me at all.

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Perhaps some will now listen to what we have been saying it when they can see it in black and white. Going to school for four years and then being able to get hired in the profession that one trains for does not make any sense to me at all.

you are so right. here in the philippines, we are asked for training fee and donations so we can have training in hospitals. i think its crazy. i have worked hard for my license and its demeaning that i have to pay to work as nurse instead of the other way around?

i loved being a nurse. its just so hard to push thru this dream anymore. i took nclex last march 8 and still no result (from saipan) and even if i passed, what use it is for me? after 10 years maybe? or from the looks of it, not anymore. u are right, it doesnt make sense at all.

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Do you actually have a local license? If so, then go to another country and get experience as an RN, what you were trained for. There are other countries besides the US, but without experience, it is going to be harder in the future to be able to work anyplace as an RN.

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Do you actually have a local license? If so, then go to another country and get experience as an RN, what you were trained for. There are other countries besides the US, but without experience, it is going to be harder in the future to be able to work anyplace as an RN.

Yes i do have my local license. I wanted to work here in the phil but no vacancies as well. What country would accept me if i cannot even get a decent work here as nurse in the phil? I mean they all require 2 years experience or so. But thank you Suzzane. I appreciate ur honesty abt all these. I know u r are not discouraging us, but helping us not to be fooled any longer. Be realistic.

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South Africa is hiring, but not sure what their requirements are.

There is also the Middle East, not the best place to work but at least it would be in the RN role and you would be getting credit and experience in that role.

You are going to need to be aggressive in trying to find something in another country, but I am sure that you will be able to do it. You have taken and passed the NLE, so that puts you actually in better shape than many others that have not done that.

Best of luck to you.

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Specializes in Oncology, Medical.

It's great that they are now seeing the oversupply of nurses in the country. The problem is how to get that basic requirement of 2 years hospital experience and the money for going abroad.

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Specializes in Critical Care.
It's great that they are now seeing the oversupply of nurses in the country. The problem is how to get that basic requirement of 2 years hospital experience and the money for going abroad.

Oh yes they can already see that there are already oversupply of nurses here in the Philippines. They just dont want to look at it as a problem.. Because if they do, they would stop encouraging newly high school grad to take up nursing and definitely stop promising jobs for all nursing graduates....

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you are so right. here in the philippines, we are asked for training fee and donations so we can have training in hospitals. i think its crazy. i have worked hard for my license and its demeaning that i have to pay to work as nurse instead of the other way around?

i loved being a nurse. its just so hard to push thru this dream anymore. i took nclex last march 8 and still no result (from saipan) and even if i passed, what use it is for me? after 10 years maybe? or from the looks of it, not anymore. u are right, it doesnt make sense at all.

hi psychelle

i just want to ask you where is that hospital thatoffers training.because I just need experience for my vermont application.

thanks

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Specializes in MedSurg.-Tele, Home health, LTC.

there maybe an oversupply of nurses in the philippines, however, probably less than half of that are even qualified. i know that we have been talking about it here over and over again, but nobody there seems to understand the truth. the absense of proper u.s. visa is not the only problem, but do these new grads actually think they can handle the job? get an experience, even if you have to start from the very bottom like getting an experience at a barrio centers....work your way up, and then, go for the big hospitals. paying for training is not a good option either, it is not credited as a work experience. now, i hope that the parents of the future high school grads will be more educated by now, that none of the previous nsg grads are leaving the country for abroad. stop hoping that these kids will be their future "cash cows".....those days are over. nowadays you have to have a strong stomach and lots of positive thinking, if you can't get a nsg related jobs, get any job, as long as you keep your mind occupied. if you don't, you will end up moping around and get depressed. you just can't blame the system because it won't help you.

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Any facility where you are paying for training is not accepted in the US as actual work experience. It is considered training and nothing more than that.

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Specializes in Neuro-Surgery, Med-Surg, Home Health.
there maybe an oversupply of nurses in the philippines, however, probably less than half of that are even qualified. i know that we have been talking about it here over and over again, but nobody there seems to understand the truth. the absense of proper u.s. visa is not the only problem, but do these new grads actually think they can handle the job? get an experience, even if you have to start from the very bottom like getting an experience at a barrio centers....work your way up, and then, go for the big hospitals. paying for training is not a good option either, it is not credited as a work experience. now, i hope that the parents of the future high school grads will be more educated by now, that none of the previous nsg grads are leaving the country for abroad. stop hoping that these kids will be their future "cash cows".....those days are over. nowadays you have to have a strong stomach and lots of positive thinking, if you can't get a nsg related jobs, get any job, as long as you keep your mind occupied. if you don't, you will end up moping around and get depressed. you just can't blame the system because it won't help you.

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i couldn't agree more with rnhawaii34. even with the projected of up to one million rn vacancies in the u.s. by the year 2020, don't expect the u.s. to open its doors to the 950,000 filipino student nurses currently enrolled in various nursing schools in the philippines. first of all, there is retrogression. secondly, as rnhawaii34 wrote, not all of these filipino student nurses are qualified to work in u.s. hospitals. there are so many sub-standard schools of nursing in the philippines that are graduating poorly-educated and poorly-trained filipino student nurses.

due to the worsening economic conditions here in the u.s., many americans are going into nursing schools for much better employment chances in the future. one big reason that limits the number of nursing students here in the u.s. is the lack of qualified nursing educators. the salary of nursing educators is around $60,000 per year while staff rn's working in big city hospitals can earn as much as $100,000 or more per year. therefore many american rn's, especially those with advanced degrees would rather work in acute care hospitals than go into teaching. in our hospital, located here in the san francisco bay area, there are a number of rn's with master's degree in nursing who are in high positions who earn around $150,000 per year. it would be next to impossible to convince them to take teaching positions that pay "only" $60,000 per year. nevertheless, more and more americans are thinking of becoming registered nurses, many of whom wait years for open slots in nursing schools.

what used to be considered as an underpaid profession when i became a nurse here in the u.s. in 1981, nursing has become a very "lucrative profession" as one nursing supervisor once told a group of rn's during a staff development class.

in our hospital the majority of the med-surg rn's are filipino-americans. noticeably, all of the recent "new-grad" hires are only the u.s.-educated nurses, whether they are americans or filipino-americans who studied nursing in the u.s.. our hospital has not hired a philippine-educated rn fresh from the philippines in the last few years. one can safely assume that this is due to retrogression.

in the philippines the competition for nursing jobs abroad will be that much more intense in the immediate future as there are tens of thousands of filipino nurses passing the nle every year joining the many unemployed filipino nurses who have already passed the nle. filipino students who wish to go to the u.s. are best advised not to study nursing unless they already have approved u.s. petitions from relatives in the u.s. as the moderators in this forum have repeatedly emphasized, all nursing graduates who studied abroad, even u.s. citizens, are considered "foreign grads" and are subject to governmental limitations.

the nursing course in the philippines has become too popular among filipinos. the situation can no longer be described as an "oversupply of nurses" but a "gargantuan supply of unemployed nurses" in the philippines.

sad but true.

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