MANILA, Oct. 6 (Xinhua) -- At least 1.29 million Filipinos have left the Philippines to work abroad since January, the Philippines' Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) has said.
DMW officer-in-charge Hans Cacdac said in a speech Thursday that the number of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) deployed during the first semester was 37.46 percent higher than last year.
Cacdac said 966,479 were land-based and 324,941 were sea-based. The top destinations for OFWs included Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Singapore, he added.
According to Cacdac, healthcare workers were the top export, followed by workers related to tourism and construction.
The Philippines deployed 2,057,040 Filipino workers in 2022. ■