Fewer Pinoy Nurses Seeking Jobs in US in 2011

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Filipino nurses are shying away from the United States as it produces more homegrown health care workers, a party-list lawmaker said.

LPG Marketers’ Association party-list Rep. Arnel Ty said only 1,370 nurses educated in the Philippines sought employment in the US from July to September this year, 38% lower than the 2,227 Filipinos who took the US National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX) for the first time in the same three-month period in 2010.

Citing data from the US National Council of State Boards of Nursing, Ty said only 4,354 Filipino nurses took the NCLEX for the first time during the first 9 months of the year.

“This represents a decline of 44%, or 3,426, compared to the 7,780 Filipino nurses who took the NCLEX for the first time over the same nine-month period in 2010,” he said in a statement.

Ty a total of 17,589 nurses educated outside the US took the NCLEX (including repeaters) from January to September this year, but only 27% of them passed the examination.

On the other hand, 84% of the 152,068 US-educated nurses who took the exam within the said period passed the NCLEX.

“The US labor market for foreign nurses is shrinking. America itself is producing more nurses, and fewer health care service providers there are making new hires in light of continuing government subsidy cutbacks,” Ty said.

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