Migrants and the
Asian crisis In good times, migrant workers collect the crumbs of wealth in far-off lands. When times are bad, migrants absorb most of the shock.
They are blamed for the slump because they are not working hard enough; because they have "old fashioned" collective bargaining agreements; because they oppose retrenchment; because they go on strike; and because they form trade unions.
During economic downturns, foreign or migrant workers are one of the most vulnerable sections of the working class. Filipino migrants have been particularly baddly hit by the 1998 financial meltdown in Asia has . In their new homes they face retrenchment, pay reduetion, and job insecurity. Back home, all they see is unemployment Philippine overseas migration
The Philippines is Asia's biggest exporter of labour (followed by India, Pakistan and China.) At least 700,000 Filipinos leave for work abroad every year The 7m overseas workers represent about 10% of the country's population, and nearly 20% of those of working age.
About 4.2 million are classified as overseas contract workers (OCWs) who work on fixed terms of six months to two years. Philippine overseas migration has become a pair of crutches for the local economy, serving two main objectives-to ease the unemployment situation and to generate foreign incomes to fuel the faltering economy.
Filipino overseas workers constitute the bulk of surplus labor in the Philippines. Unwanted by the local economy, they are forced to seek employment abroad, unmindful of the onerous contract and joblessness at to me. pe contract terms and risks, if only to escape 1995, we computed job scarcity ratio in the Philippines at 69% of the actual labor force. Today, this ratio could reach at least 75% considering that unemployment rate increased 5 percentage points over the last three years.*
It is very easy to understand why there is a compelling reason to seek employment overseas. Otherwise, the local economy has to contend with an additional 4.2 million people needing jobs at home.
Averting a potentially explosive unemployment crisis is just half of the story. Overseas employment also saved the Philippine financial position from virtual collapse. In 1997, Filipino migrants remitted $US5 billion in badly needed foreign currency.* This amount casıly doubles to si0 billion if remittances through non-banking or informal channels are factored in.
This amount is about 18% of the country's Gross National Product (GNP) and is nearly the same as the contribution of the entire agricultural sector." For more than a decade, income remittances from overseas have kept the Philippine economy afloat. If these were used to pay the foreign debt, the country could emerge from the debt trap in four years!
For over two decades, the Philippines embarked on an aggressive labor export program. But this proceeded at a
International Viewpoint #310 April 1999 19
YEXEI tremendous cost. Widespread abuses, exploitative working conditions, job insecurity and the virtual absence of protection have made life extremely difficult for Filipino migrants in most of destination. Prolonged areas separation, psychosocial pressures and changing values have caused the breakdown of families, delinquency among the youth and disruption of normal child development.
Overseas migration has reached a level that is well beyond the capacity of the government to manage in terms of providing services and guarantees; in mitigating the social cost of migration; and in facilitating the reintegration of returning overseas workers.