18 - OFW exodus blocks expansion of RP businesses

Filipino business leaders blame the lack of skilled workers in the country as a major factor that hinders corporate expansion, according to a study released by accounting, tax and business advisory firm Punongbayan & Araullo (P&A).

The survey, conducted by Grant Thornton International, showed that 43 percent of Filipino businessmen consider the prevailing brain drain caused by the high number of Filipino professionals and skilled workers who leave the country for overseas employment as a major roadblock to their expansion plans.

The figure was a significant jump from the 15 percent in 2006, thus landing the Philippines above the global average of 38 percent from respondents all over the world who worried about manpower shortage, said a press statement from P&A, a member of Grant Thornton International.

"The results this year clearly reflect the problem that employers across the industries are experiencing, which is the draining of our local talent pool," said P&A chief executive officer and managing partner Greg Navarro in a statement.

The Grant Thornton International Business Report covers the opinions of 7,200 privately owned businesses from 32 countries.Along with those in the Philippines, 60 percent of firms in New Zealand, 59 percent in Australia, and 58 percent in Africa also considered the lack of accessibility to skilled labor as the primary reason that held them back from expanding.

Data from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration revealed that from 1998 to 2001, newly hired overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) belonging to the professional, medical, and technical industries steadily grew in number, which peaked at 97,448 accounting for 38 percent of all newly hired OFWs.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas reported in 2005 that remittances from OFWs showed that in the last five years, majority of Filipinos working abroad are higher-paid service and professional workers.

"Even in the accounting practice, we are struggling to compete with foreign firms that see the Philippines as a good source for highly-trained, English speaking certified public accountants," Navarro said.Auditing firm, SyCip Gores Velayo & Co. (SGV) senior partner and head for branches in Visayas and Mindanao, Protacio Tacandong said like the other sectors, the auditing service industry in the country is also affected by the worsening brain drain problem as most of its top accountants are now being hired by foreign countries like Australia, United States, Canada and even the Middle East.

The International Business Report also stated that bureaucratic regulations or red tape has been tagged as the top business constraint globally in the last five years, with Brazilian business executives most affected by it 60 percent.

"In the Philippines, however, only 26 percent of respondents consider regulations/red tape a major constraint to their business expansion," the report said.

"This is the fourth year in a row that few local business leaders have reported being hampered by regulations/red tape. In 2004, 44 percent of local respondents said red tape was their biggest frustration. That figure dropped to 40 percent the following year, and to 34 percent in 2006," the report said.

Tacandong said SGV has to consider other ways to take in the country's best accountants and lawyers before they are tempted to work abroad since "opportunities for accountants are now very wide."SGV is now tapping the academe and extending support to potential accounting students, which the company may hire for work after graduation, he said. (PNA)

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