Over 20,000 Filipino Nurses Eye U.S. Jobs

A total of 20,948 Bachelor of Science in Nursing graduates from the Philippines took their first U.S. licensure test from January to September this year, aiming for employment in America, Quezon City Rep. Marvin Rillo said Sunday.

“The number of Philippine-educated nurses seeking to practice their profession in America and other foreign labor markets remains very high, mainly on account of inadequate pay here at home,” said Rillo, vice chairperson of the House committee on higher and technical education, in a statement.

Rillo has been an advocate for Filipino nurses’ welfare and is the proponent of House Bill No. 5276. The bill seeks to increase the basic monthly pay of entry-level nurses in government hospitals by 74 percent to P67,005 (Salary Grade 21).

Currently, entry-level nurses in Department of Health hospitals receive P38,413 (Salary Grade 15) in basic monthly pay.

In the Senate, Sen. Raffy Tulfo is pushing for Senate Bill No. 2694, which aims to raise the basic pay of entry-level nurses in public health institutions by 40 percent to P53,873 (Salary Grade 19).

Both legislative proposals aim to amend the 22-year-old Philippine Nursing Act.

“We maintain that higher pay is still the most effective way for us to improve job satisfaction and retain some of our nurses here in the local health sector,” Rillo said.

The country is grappling with a growing shortage of nurses, driven largely by continued overseas migration.

The Philippines currently faces a shortage of 127,000 nurses, a figure projected to rise to 250,000 by 2030, according to the World Health Organization.

In July 2022, the Commission on Higher Education lifted the decade-old freeze on establishing new nursing colleges to boost the country’s production of new nurses.

Citing data from the U.S. National Council of State Boards of Nursing Inc., Rillo noted that 4,456 nursing graduates from India took their first U.S. licensure test during the same period, along with 2,665 graduates from Kenya, 2,031 graduates from Nepal, 1,882 graduates from South Korea, 683 graduates from Nigeria, and 613 graduates from Ghana.