UP 129% VS H1 OF 2021: 8,128 Filipino nurses sought U.S. jobs from Jan-Jun

A total of 8,128 nursing graduates from the Philippines took the U.S. licensure examination for the first time from January to June this year, in hopes of obtaining employment in America, Quezon City Rep. Marvin Rillo said on Monday.

“The 8,128 represents an increase of 129 percent when compared to the 3,550 Filipino nursing graduates that took the U.S. licensure examination, or the NCLEX, for the first time in the same six-month period in 2021, excluding repeaters,” Rillo, vice chairperson of the House committee on higher and technical education, said.

“The numbers, released only last week, strongly indicate that a growing number of Filipino nurses are raring to practice their profession in America, mainly on account of record-high paychecks there,” Rillo said.

In the whole 12 months of 2021, a total of 9,788 nurses educated in the Philippines took the NCLEX for the first time.

“We really have to invest more aggressively to retain our nurses in public hospitals – to discourage them from leaving for higher-paying jobs abroad after practicing only for one or two years here at home,” Rillo said.

Rillo earlier filed House Bill No. 5276, which seeks to bump up by 75 percent – from P36,619 to P63,997 – the minimum base of nurses employed by the government.

Under Rillo’s bill, the lowest base pay of nurses working in public health institutions would be raised by six notches to Salary Grade 21 prescribed under the Salary Standardization Law of 2019.

“Private hospitals in the country also have to spend more money to keep their nurses. Otherwise, they are bound to lose more nurses to foreign employers,” Rillo said.

Last month, the Department of Health said public and private hospitals in the Philippines need of a total of 106,541 nurses to fill vacancies.

“Even in America, we were told that a number of U.S. states are also losing nurses to corporate agencies deploying ‘travel nurses’ to other states facing (nursing) staff shortages,” Rillo said.

“Travel nurses in America are receiving offers of up to $3,000 in weekly pay, or around P177,000,” Rillo said.

The latest numbers from the U.S. National Council of State Boards of Nursing Inc. (USNCSBN) show that from January to June, a total of 1,675 nurses educated in India also took the NCLEX for the first time, along with 629 nurses schooled in South Korea.

Meanwhile, 601 nurses educated in Puerto Rico and 540 nurses schooled in Kenya likewise took the NCLEX for the first time during the six-month period.

The USNCSBN administers the NCLEX, or the National Council Licensure Examination.