A total of 14,158 Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) graduates from the Philippines took the US licensure examination for the first time from January to June 2024, in the hopes of landing high-paying jobs, according to Quezon City Rep. Marvin Rillo.
“The numbers clearly indicate that many Philippine-educated nurses are very eager to practice their profession in America, where their skills will get the highest rewards in terms of compensation income,” he said.
At least 57 percent of BSN graduates from the Philippines have passed the U.S. licensure test on their first take, he said. In the whole 12 months of 2023, a record-breaking 36,410 nursing graduates from the Philippines took the U.S. licensure test for the first time, without counting repeaters, he added.
Rillo is the vice chairperson of the House Committee on Higher and Technical Education. He is batting for the passage of new legislation that would upgrade by 75 percent the starting pay of nurses working in Philippine government hospitals to discourage them from seeking overseas employment.
Under Rillo’s House Bill No. 5276, the entry-level pay of public nurses would be jacked up to P63,997 per month from P36,619.
