The number of Filipino factory workers being hired in Taiwan and South Korea dropped and this trend is expected to continue until next year according to the Philippine recruitment industry. The slowdown on OFW deployment n other neighboring Asian countries may also continue for the nest two years. This is amidst reports that OFWs are relatively unaffected by the global economic crisis.

The vice president of the Federated Association of Manpower Exporters (FAME), Jackson Gan said, “We used to deploy 40,000 workers to Taiwan, but we have only sent about 37,000 at this time.”

He also said that business firms in Taiwan have informed them that a freeze in the deployment of OFWs in Taiwan is possible to happen in 2009. Read more.