Senator Imelda Josefa “Imee” Marcos said shortages in nurses in a few states in the US will result in about 3,000 job opportunities for Filipino nurses and health workers there.

Marcos said the vacancies would happen “possibly more in coming weeks,” which have emerged due to staffing shortages particularly in California, Texas, Florida, Minnesota, and New York states.

Also, rising cases of infection across the United States have been aggravated by the fall-winter flu season, forcing American nurses who used to shuttle in from other states to stay put, Marcos explained.

“The cold reality is that America’s need for nurses answers our own need to curb high unemployment and put food on the table of whole Filipino families,” Marcos said.

“The lack of a national policy on job creation and recovery has given the unemployed limited options,” she added.

Marcos said that 200,000 Filipino nurses have lost their jobs and have come home, or remain stranded in the host countries due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

As of September, almost 40 percent of the country’s adult labor force or more than 23 million people are out of work.

“Let’s hope that the roll-out of vaccines accelerating next year will ease unemployment.” Marcos said. CURRENTPH