QUEZON City Rep. Marvin Rillo reported that around 14,158 Bachelor of Science in Nursing graduates from the Philippines took the U.S. licensure examination for the first time from January to June 2024, in hopes of landing high-paying jobs in America.

“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,” said Rillo, vice chairman of the House Committee on Higher and Technical Education.

Rillo estimated that 57 percent of BSN graduates from the Philippines pass the U.S. licensure test on their first take.

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.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics pegs at $86,070 or more than P5 million the average annual pay of registered nurses in America.

Rillo has been batting for the passage of new legislation that would upgrade by 75 percent the starting pay of nurses working in Philippine government hospitals, in a bid 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.

“We are in a race against time. We have to invest more money now to retain here at home at least some of our fresh nursing graduates,” Rillo said.

“Right now, a large number of nursing items in public hospitals throughout the country remain vacant and unfilled,” Rillo added.

He further said that owing to the severe lack of nursing staff, many of our hospitals are unable to expand their capacities to accommodate more patients.

The World Health Organization projected that without action, the shortage of nurses in the Philippines could hit 249,843 by 2030.

Globally, the WHO sees the shortage of nurses hitting up to 4.6 million by 2030.