Filipino nurses quit low-pay jobs at home for careers in Saudi Arabia

In this file photo taken in 2010, newly graduated nurses take their oaths at a ceremony in a mall in Manila. (Reuters/File Photo)

• Kingdom has been top destination for Filipino nurses since at least 2021
• Over half of licensed Filipino nurses, about 316,000, are working abroad

MANILA: Saudi Arabia is the most preferred destination for Filipino nurses, with thousands choosing better opportunities in the Kingdom over meager salaries offered at home, recently released figures reveal.
Data shared with Arab News by the Philippines’ Department of Migrant Workers show about 2,300 Filipino nurses have migrated to Saudi Arabia so far this year, making up nearly 35 percent of nursing professionals who left the country in 2023.
The Kingdom has been the top choice for Filipino nurses working abroad since at least 2021.
“Saudi … it’s in the top three, because it’s easy to get a nursing job there,” Jocelyn Andamo, secretary-general of advocacy group Filipino Nurses United, told Arab News.
She said that the Kingdom is “more accessible” and the nurses’ salary is higher than in the Philippines.
About 130,000 Filipino nurses are currently working in Saudi Arabia, according to some estimates, while Philippine Department of Health data showed more than half of licensed Filipino nurses, about 316,000, were working abroad in 2021.
“We are not content and we are not getting what is due, like enough salary to provide for our family,” Andamo said.
“What nurses earn here in one year, they can earn in just one month in other countries.”
Filipino nurses are the lowest paid in Southeast Asia, according to data aggregator iPrice Group, which showed experienced nurses earning around 40,381 Philippine pesos ($726) a month, 57 percent less than their Vietnamese counterparts.
Some have been taking on extra shifts, including jobs in both public and private hospitals, to make more money, Andamo added.
“Many nurses turn to online selling or they have a side job in other fields … We can’t encourage nurses here to stay on. And there are also those leaving the profession. Even if they did not go abroad, they got a different job, like in call centers,” she said.
Last September, the FNU joined Filipino lawmaker France Castro in filing a bill to institutionalize entry-level nursing salaries at 50,000 pesos monthly nationwide. The group is also advocating for permanent positions for nurses, as many in the profession are still under contractual arrangement.
“The task of the nursing profession is vital and essential, but we are not being given the right appreciation in terms of salary,” Andamo said. “So, that’s the major issue of nurses in the Philippines. We believe that if it will be addressed, the other problems can be resolved.”
Filipino nurses, many of whom are well-trained and fluent in English, have long been in high demand abroad and especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the nurse exodus has left hospitals and health facilities in the Philippines struggling to keep their best people and fill new positions.
“We’re having a shortage here,” President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said earlier this month. ”We are trying to find schemes to alleviate that problem. We are very proud of them, but we wish they would stay home.”