MANILA — Seven percent of Filipino adults late last year said they were looking for jobs abroad, with Canada topping the list of countries where they wanted to work, according to a Social Weather Stations survey released Wednesday.

The SWS said Canada was "the most cited country where one aspires to work."

Other top destinations for those eyeing overseas work include Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Japan, Qatar, and the US, the pollster said.

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In February, the Philippines' unemployment rate was steady while underemployment eased, the Philippine Statistics Authority announced earlier this month.

The agency said the jobless rate for February 2023 was 4.8 percent, which meant that there were 2.47 million Filipino workers who were unemployed.

The SWS survey also revealed that nearly 2 out of 10 adult Filipinos, or 17 percent, wanted to live abroad.

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SWS: HOUSEHOLDS WITH OFW AT 7%

The Dec. 10-14, 2022 national survey of 1,200 adults showed that 7 percent of Filipino households had an overseas Filipino worker (OFW).

Around 75 percent of households with an OFW receive money "often."

Moreover, 17 percent said their household OFWs send or give money "sometimes," 5 percent shared "seldom," and 3 percent said "never."

Cash remittances from overseas Filipinos coursed through banks reached $32.54 billion in 2022, higher by 3.6 percent from $31.42 billion in 2021, data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas showed.

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Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) Secretary Susan Ople in November last year said there were around 10.5 million Filipinos working abroad.

Citing estimates nearly a decade ago from the Commission on Overseas Filipino, Rene Ofreneo, former dean of the UP School of Labor and Industrial Relations, said some 5 million are permanent immigrants, more than 3 million are temporary, and around 2 million are undocumented.

The SWS poll has a sampling error margin of ±2.8 percent.

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