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By Dave L. Llorito, Research Head and
Kristine R. Payuan, Researcher
Conclusion
Part II of the report discussed the waves of
labor migration from the Philippines since the 1980s until the
present and outlined how rising cases of abuse of OFWs abroad led to
a shift in the country’s “labor export policy.”
FOR many, the Philippines’ success as a
supplier of migrant labor all over the world speaks of the
Filipinos’ strength of character: resilience, risk-taking, and the
ability to blend in a different cultural milieu. And it helps a lot
that Filipinos speak relatively good English.
But that’s probably one side of the coin. The
other side is unflattering, particularly when viewed through the
prism of a group of countries sharing the same leaky boat with the
Philippines.
The company that Filipinos keep
The United Nations Conference on Trade and
Development (Unctad) monitors the latest available statistics on
workers’ remittances as a percentage of the gross domestic product
(GDP) worldwide. And based on the list, the company that the
Philippines keep is highly diverse. Among the countries that are
very depended on their overseas workers are Jordan, Samoa, Yemen,
Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Jamaica where the dollars sent back home
account for 11 percent to 22 percent of their respective GDPs.
Next in rank are Albania, Nepal, Dominican
Republic, Vanuatu, Sri Lanka, Sudan, and Honduras where their
workers’ remittances account for six to10 percent of their
respective GDPs. In the third rung are countries like Ecuador,
Morocco, Bangladesh, Egypt, Georgia, Tunisia, Belize, Portugal,
Nigeria, Barbados, Guatemala, India, Turkey, Croatia, and the
Republic of Macedonia where their overseas workers’ remittances
account for two to five percent of their GDPs.
The fourth rung includes the Philippines,
Paraguay, Azerbaijan, Mexico, Peru, Myanmar, Bolivia, Costa Rica,
Colombia, Cyprus, Armenia, Indonesia, Mongolia, Seychelles, Spain,
Belarus, Ethiopia, Poland, among others where workers’ remittances
account for 0.3 to two percent of their respective GDPs.
In terms of economic development, it would
probably be “unfair” to compare the Philippines to many of these
countries. But save for New Zealand and Spain, most of these
countries are considered “developing countries,” a politically
correct term for “poor countries.” Yet these countries appear to
have some common characteristics: most of them are generally not
within the stream of foreign investments flows; and their economies
are generally slow-growing. On average, 193 countries worldwide
received US$2.5-7 billion from 1997 until 2001. Yet, on average the
51 countries that are highly dependent on their overseas workers’
money got only US$11.7 billion in the same period.
Social impact
Cielito F. Habito, economist and former
director-general of the National Economic and Development Authority
(Neda), says there’s basically nothing wrong with the growing
number of overseas workers, given their huge contributions to the
economy. What bothers him, however, are its social impacts— of
families being torn apart and new generations growing up with only
one parent. The Habitos run a private school in Laguna and they
noticed that children of OFWs appear to have “more
problems” in school.
“The implication of this to the future of this
country is quite worrisome,” Habito says. He says that he is not
worried for those whose employment contracts allow them to bring
their families with them, thus avoiding the emotional trauma of
leaving their loved ones behind. “But this is probably true only
for OFW who were hired for professional, technical, and managerial
positions,” he explains.
Since 1992 until January-August in 2002, OFWs
recruited for professional, technical, and managerial jobs accounted
for only 35 percent of the total. The rest had other skills,
including clerical, services, sales, and production.
“Ultimately, those remittances are just
money,” Habito says. “For me keeping the family together is more
important.”
Nevertheless, stopping the rising flow of OFWs
would require measures that would effectively address the “push
factors:” the lack of jobs which in turn are caused by so many
factors like low investments, bad infrastructure, political
instability, rapid population growth. Hence, Habito says that
addressing the OFW phenomenon should be a long-term effort.
He says that Asian countries like Malaysia,
Thailand, Korea, and other “tiger economies” have been
growing at seven to eight percent per year in the last 15 years.
Thus, these countries were never pressured into sending their
workers abroad. In the first half of the ’90s, he says that
the Philippines was on the way toward attaining “sustainable
growth” but the trend was cut short by the Asian currency crisis
and later by many other factors, like the dot-com bubble and the
political crisis when Joseph E. Estrada became president.
Government ambivalence
Habito says that the huge financial resources
being sent home by OFWs could actually be “mobilized” for
national development, especially if these are channeled to
productive ventures like small and medium manufacturing enterprises.
However, he himself was surprised that even up to these days, there
are no clear ideas both from the government and the private sector
on how exactly to do it.
One possible reason is that the government
itself has been ambivalent regarding the role of OFWs in
national development. This ambivalence is reflected in Section 2c of
Republic Act 8042 or the Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act
of l995, which states: “… the State does not promote overseas
employment as a means to sustain economic growth and achieve
national development.” Yet in Section 2i, the law also says that
the deployment of overseas workers “… shall be encouraged” and
that the state may even extend “incentives” to service
contractors and manning agencies.
Nevertheless, Habito says that the OFW money
could actually be pooled and mobilized if only the country has a
viable and mature capital markets.
Push and pull factors getting stronger
Currently, the Philippine economy is being
stymied by terrorism, making the “push factors” even stronger.
In the ‘80s, the trend has been for a member
of the family or one of the parents to leave for foreign shores.
Today, however, the trend is for sons or daughters of the first
generation OFWs to follow the footsteps of their parents. The
parents themselves, who are probably in their late 40s or early 50s,
are still active in the overseas labor market. There are some cases
when both the parents and their children leave together.
And the pull factors— such as demand for
overseas labor— has also been getting stronger as new markets for
OFWs are emerging since the traditional ones are getting tighter.
Unemployment in some countries has led
governments to stop the hiring of expatriates. Such was the
moratorium imposed in Guam that closed its doors for the entry of
foreign workers in the construction sector in response to the
island’s high unemployment rate of more than 13 percent.
To manage their 20-percent unemployment, Saudi Arabia adapted the
“Saudization” program where the government replaced expatriates
with local workers. Ireland has also started to tighten its
rules on the entry of foreign workers due to the country’s
increase in unemployment.
Micronesia, has recently enacted Public Law No.
12-13 allowing only the entry of foreign workers in specific
occupations and industries where there is a lack of trained
Micronesian citizens. Such skills include architecture,
accountancy, medicine, veterinary, engineering, marine biology,
among many others. There are about 1,000 OFWs all over
Micronesia and about 20 percent of them will be affected
by the new law.
These employment restrictions, however, are
offset by the fast emerging new markets for OFWs. In Europe,
for instance, demand for caregivers, nurses and other health care
workers are expected to soar in countries such as Ireland, Norway,
Netherlands, and Italy due to the region’s aging population.
Also in Europe, Germany has recently approved an
immigration bill allowing the admission of skilled foreigners and
entrepreneurs. In 2000, Germany launched a “green card”
program that allows employers to bring foreign communications and IT
experts into their country for up to five years.
Across the Atlantic, the shortage of health
workers continues to be an emerging crisis in the United States.
The global demand for nurses, an aging workforce, and new
opportunities for women in other profession are some of the factors
attributed to the shortage, thereby creating job opportunities for
our Filipino nurses who are preferred over other nationalities.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)
of the US Department of Labor, employment projections in the US
would increase from 132.4 million to 150.9 million for 1996-2006.
In Dubai, demand for manpower is expected to
rise following the expansion of services of several industry
sectors, one of which is in the financial services with the creation
of the Dubai International Financial Center (DIFC). DIFC aims
to serve 1.5 billion people and is expected to make the emirate a
regional financial services center. In the communications
industry, the Emirate Telecommunication Corp. (ETISALAT) plans to
open corporate offices with its workforce consisting of 63-percent
expatriate workers.
Meanwhile, employment opportunities in Asia are
also expected to open up new markets for OFWs with Japan soon to
open its doors for caregivers and IT experts; China, for domestic
helpers, English teachers as well as skilled professionals in
various fields, following the economic boom resulting in the
proliferation of jobs; and Malaysia, for nurses following the
expansion of health care services.
When asked if the country will be able to keep
up with the demand, Carmelita Dimzon, director of pre-employment
services division of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration
says: “Yan ang tinitignan ng POEA ngayon. We are currently
making an inventory to see if we can cope with the demand.”
Currently, the Philippine economy is being
stymied by terrorism, making the “push factors” even stronger.
In the ‘80s, the trend has been for a member
of the family or one of the parents to leave for foreign shores.
Today, however, the trend is for sons or daughters of the first
generation OFWs to follow the footsteps of their parents. The
parents themselves, who are probably in their late 40s or early 50s,
are still active in the overseas labor market. There are some cases
when both the parents and their children leave together.
And the pull factors— such as demand for
overseas labor— has also been getting stronger as new markets for
OFWs are emerging since the traditional ones are getting tighter.
Unemployment in some countries has led
governments to stop the hiring of expatriates. Such was the
moratorium imposed in Guam that closed its doors for the entry of
foreign workers in the construction sector in response to the
island’s high unemployment rate of more than 13 percent.
To manage their 20 percent unemployment, Saudi Arabia adapted the
Saudization program where the government replaced expatriates with
local workers. Ireland has also started to tighten its rules
on the entry of foreign workers due to the country’s increase in
unemployment.
Micronesia, has recently enacted Public Law No.
12-13 allowing only the entry of foreign workers in specific
occupations and industries where there is a lack of trained
Micronesian citizens. Such skills include architecture,
accountancy, medicine, veterinary, engineering, marine biology,
among many others. There are about 1,000 OFWs all over
Micronesia and about 20 percent of them will be affected
by the new law.
These employment restrictions, however, are
offset by the fast emerging new markets for OFWs. In Europe,
for instance, demand for caregivers, nurses and other health care
workers are expected to soar in countries such as Ireland, Norway,
Netherlands, and Italy due to the region’s aging population.
Also in Europe, Germany has recently approved an
immigration bill allowing the admission of skilled foreigners and
entrepreneurs. In 2000, Germany launched a “green card”
program that allows employers to bring foreign communications and IT
experts into their country for up to five years.
Across the Atlantic, the shortage of health
workers continues to be an emerging crisis in the United States.
The global demand for nurses, an aging workforce, and new
opportunities for women in other profession are some of the factors
attributed to the shortage, thereby creating job opportunities for
our Filipino nurses who are preferred over other nationalities.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)
of the US Department of Labor, employment projections in the US
would increase from 132.4 million to 150.9 million for 1996-2006.
In Dubai, demand for manpower is expected to
rise following the expansion of services of several industry
sectors, one of which is in the financial services with the creation
of the Dubai International Financial Center (DIFC). DIFC aims
to serve 1.5 billion people and is expected to make the emirate a
regional financial services center. In the communications
industry, the Emirate Telecommunication Corp. (ETISALAT) plans to
open corporate offices with its workforce consisting of 63 percent
expatriate workers.
Meanwhile, employment opportunities in Asia are
also expected to open up new markets for OFWs with Japan soon to
open its doors for caregivers and IT experts; China, for domestic
helpers, English teachers as well as skilled professionals in
various fields, following the economic boom resulting in the
proliferation of jobs; and Malaysia, for nurses following the
expansion of health care services.
When asked if the country will be able to keep
up with the demand, Carmelita Dimzon, director of pre-employment
services division of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration
says: “Yan ang tinitignan ng POEA ngayon. We are currently
making an inventory to see if we can cope with the demand.”
Part 1
| Part 2
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