Home and internet-based jobs are among the best career alternatives for displaced Overseas Filipino Workers and those returning to the Philippines for good, according to data from the Department of Labour and Employment’s Institute for Labour Studies and the Philippine Overseas Labour Office (POLO) which looked based on 80 overseas Filipino workers in Singapore.

Institute for Labour Studies Executive Director Ahmma Charisma Satumba said that virtual careers provide vast opportunities for OFWs and other workers as the market for virtual work is open, wide, and deep.

Ann Kristine Peñaredondo, a Facebook marketing strategist, said, “Virtual career allows one to work at the comfort of home, earn different currencies and serve different businesses.”

She said that virtual careers sometimes create misconceptions, doubts, and fears as they are novel and have not been fully explored yet by many people.

Peñaredondo added that writers, accountants, bloggers, advertisers, bookkeepers, coders, software engineers, illustrators, videographers, and many other skilled professionals can build their virtual careers if they so wish.

Labor Attaché at the Department of Labour and Employment Saul De Vries said,  “Virtual careers are alternative options for those who lost their jobs due to Covid-19 as well as those who do not want to work away from their families.”

Data from January up to October 2020 showed the overseas deployment of OFWs is down 60% compared to 2019.