The number of Filipinos sent abroad for work has dropped steeply in the first seven months of 2026, with a prolonged crisis in the Middle East emerging as the leading drag on hiring across nearly every category of overseas employment.
Government data show 980,673 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) were deployed between January and July, a 34 percent decline from the 1,486,756 recorded over the same period in 2025, according to the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW). Land-based placements made up 853,207 of that total, down 25 percent from 1,148,637 a year earlier, while sea-based deployment fell hardest, sliding 62 percent to 127,466 seafarers from 338,119 in 2025.
Recruitment analyst Emmanuel Geslani linked the broad pullback to instability that has yet to ease across the region. In a statement on Sunday, September 13, 2026, he described a conflict that unleashed a wave of regional violence, disrupting ordinary lives as well as the economic engines of Middle East nations.
Domestic hiring has borne much of the strain. “There was a slight decrease in job orders, particularly household service workers, due to a slow normalization in Middle East countries,” Geslani said.
The softness reaches well beyond the Gulf and beyond household work. Geslani observed that recruitment has also thinned for professionals and for skilled and highly skilled workers in other parts of the world, a trend he traced to uneven economic and tourism recoveries. “A visible slowdown was noticed due to slow recovery of the economy and tourism, as well,” he said.
