Philippines is 4th in Labor Certification Approvals

The Philippines ranked 4th in the number of permanent labor certifications issued last year, according to a performance report released last month by the U.S. Department of Labor. 4,601 certifications were given to Filipinos, comprising 5.7 percent of the worldwide total.

India, with 22,645 or 28.3 percent of the total, was first, followed by China (7,434) and South Korea (5,330). Mexico ranked fifth with 4,388.

Workers from 180 countries applied for labor certification but 55 percent of the overall figure were issued to workers in the top 5 countries.

The leading occupations for which Filipino workers were issued labor certifications were chefs and head cooks, secondary school teachers, accountants and auditors and medical and clinical laboratory technologists. The median annual salary for these occupations was $52,395.

The leading occupations for India were in the computer industry, such as software engineers, software analysts, and electronic engineers. The median income for these occupations was $75,213.

The top 10 employers that obtained the labor certifications for Filipino workers were the NYC Department of Education, Rx Staffing and Home Care, Bay Staffing and Home Care, Swann Special Care Center, Foster Poultry Farms, Glotel, HCA Healthcare, Eagle Health Care, RCG Information Technology and Los Angeles School District.

The data presented in the report covered the first full fiscal year of the implementation of the PERM (Program Electronic Review Management) system.

PERM, which took effect on March 28, 2005, is a reengineered process. It allows the electronic filing of applications, thereby significantly reducing paperwork and results in the prompt approval or rejection of applications.

The labor certification process is generally the first step in the employment-based application for a green card. A labor certification is issued if there are no available workers, able, willing, and qualified to do the work and that the salary offered will not adversely affect the wage or working condition of workers similarly employed.

Employers must prove through advertisement and other forms of recruitment that reasonable efforts were undertaken to test the labor market.

Prior to PERM, labor certification applications were filed with the State Workforce Agencies (SWA). After review and approval by the SWA, they were transmitted to the Employment and Training Adjudication (ETA) Regional Offices for further processing. This procedure was complex, time consuming and cumbersome. As a result, a huge backlog of 363,000 applications was created by the time PERM became effective.

This backlog has been gradually eliminated with the establishment of Backlog Elimination Centers in Philadelphia and Dallas. By August 1, 2007, 93 percent of the backlog had been completed. ETA projects that the backlog will be totally eliminated by the end of this month.

Under PERM, there were 80,029 labor certification cases that were certified in the last fiscal year, according to the report. 66 percent were certified within 60 days from submission of the application and 100 percent were certified within 120 days.