Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates took in the largest share of Filipino land-based workers sent abroad in the first eight months of 2026, figures from the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) show, even as total deployments on land and at sea fell well short of last year’s pace.
Of the 988,754 land-based overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who left for jobs between January and August, 169,361 went to Saudi Arabia and 165,477 to the UAE. Singapore ranked third with 113,263, trailed closely by Hong Kong at 105,966, while Qatar placed fifth at 64,616.
The DMW had earlier reported that overall OFW deployment this year was running lower than in 2025. The land-based count, still short of one million, is 24.68 percent below the 1,312,724 workers deployed over the same months a year ago.
Maritime numbers took a much heavier hit. Only 155,966 Filipino seafarers were deployed from January to August, against 359,938 in the corresponding period of 2025, a decline of 56.67 percent.
Cruise and other passenger ships hired the most Filipino crew at 34,653, edging out bulk carriers at 33,741. Container vessels accounted for 14,168 seafarers, oil tankers for 9,965, and chemical tankers for 7,380.
The slump comes barely a week after the DMW said shipowners and industry stakeholders around the world still regard Filipinos as the “seafarer of choice.”
