Policy Issue
The Philippines has long implemented policies to regulate the employment of nonresident foreign nationals. This is evident in previous DOLE Department Orders (DOs), which have been issued to enforce the provisions of the Labor Code mentioned earlier. The most recent is DOLE DO 248-2025, also known as the New Rules and Regulations on the Employment of Foreign Nationals in the Philippines. This order introduces the Economic Needs Test (ENT).
As defined in the new order, the ENT is a process to evaluate and determine whether employing a foreign national is necessary to fill a gap, shortage, or need in the labor market. The inclusion of the ENT into the country’s foreign labor regulations serves as the latest effort to add protective measures to safeguard employment for Filipino workers. However, there is no clear criterion for applying the ENT, nor is there a straightforward way to balance economic openness with the protection of the local workforce.