Fewer Filipino Nurses Interested To Work In The US?

In a surprising news item from ABS-CBN, Filipino nurses who sought employment in the US were apparently 38% less versus the year before according to LPG Marketers' Association party-list Rep. Arnel Ty 

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

Is the US labor market for nurses really shrinking?

Data from the Professional Regulation Commission, Ty said 290,000 registered nurses were unemployed as of March 31. The figure, says Ty, does not include the more than 37,000 nursing graduates who passed the July licensure examination.

ABS-CBN article goes on to state that the government is planning to spend P1.686 billion next year to expand the Health Department's Doctors to the Barrio program, which will provide temporary jobs to nurses, Ty said. The expanded program is expected to cover the deployment of 12,000 nurses and 1,000 midwives to underserved communities.