'Should RP gov't create more OFWs amid crisis?'
MANILA, Philippines - While some of the world’s leading economies are crumbling amid the global slowdown, an economist asks whether it is sustainable for the Philippine government to continue pushing for overseas labor and go on recruitment sprees in the Middle East.
Benjamin Diokno, a professor of economics at the University of the Philippines, posed the question as government officials returned from their trips in the Middle East allegedly to go on a ‘recruitment spree.’
“Do we want to continue exporting labor in the long term?" Diokno asked at a forum on the global economic crisis on Tuesday.
Diokno, who is a former secretary of budget, said the battle for economic stability during these dire times should be fought in the home front by creating more jobs and preserving them.
This was echoed by labor economics specialist Clarence Pascual, saying that the multi-billion dollar remittance being sent home annually by Filipino overseas workers have not been used wisely to put a lid on the outward migration of labor.
“We have not really used resources from OFWs to generate jobs here and prevent migration," Pascual said.
The number of unemployed Filipinos jumped 2.855 million in January this year from 2.675 million during the same period last year, the National Statistics Office (NSO) said last month.
Diokno added that the government should not be too dependent on OFW remittances especially at a time when jobs of thousands of Filipinos abroad are in danger of getting retrenched.
Citibank recently projected that remittances sent home by OFWs may decline to $11.4 billion for 2009. The cited figure is approximately 30 percent lower than 2008’s $16.4 billion.
Lower remittances may compromise the country’s economic growth targets since funds from OFWs boost demand for products ranging from cell phones to condominiums.
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, who returned last week from Dubai, reported that she has secured over 200,000 jobs for Filipinos in the rich Middle East emirate. The government is eyeing the Middle East as an oasis for OFWs amid massive job layoffs in other export-dependent countries.
But quoting Bert Hofman of the World Bank, Diokno stressed that the longer the global recession lasts, the more the risks of large-scale return of migrants.
Billions of dollars worth of remittances sent home every year has created a false sense of security for the government to cure all its economic woes, Diokno reiterated.
“It is time for the government to review its labor policies," he added.
Despite fears that a quarter of a million Filipinos will lose their jobs overseas in the first quarter of 2009, government statistics show that the sheer volume of Filipinos leaving the country to work abroad more than offsets the number of those laid off.
The deployment of overseas Filipino workers (OFW) rose by 25 percent in January 2009 as compared to the same month last year, data from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) showed.
The Philippine government exceeded its deployment target by more than 300,000 new hires in 2008, an increase of almost 30 percent compared to the same period in 2007. - GMANews.tv
Benjamin Diokno, a professor of economics at the University of the Philippines, posed the question as government officials returned from their trips in the Middle East allegedly to go on a ‘recruitment spree.’
“Do we want to continue exporting labor in the long term?" Diokno asked at a forum on the global economic crisis on Tuesday.
Diokno, who is a former secretary of budget, said the battle for economic stability during these dire times should be fought in the home front by creating more jobs and preserving them.
This was echoed by labor economics specialist Clarence Pascual, saying that the multi-billion dollar remittance being sent home annually by Filipino overseas workers have not been used wisely to put a lid on the outward migration of labor.
“We have not really used resources from OFWs to generate jobs here and prevent migration," Pascual said.
The number of unemployed Filipinos jumped 2.855 million in January this year from 2.675 million during the same period last year, the National Statistics Office (NSO) said last month.
Diokno added that the government should not be too dependent on OFW remittances especially at a time when jobs of thousands of Filipinos abroad are in danger of getting retrenched.
Citibank recently projected that remittances sent home by OFWs may decline to $11.4 billion for 2009. The cited figure is approximately 30 percent lower than 2008’s $16.4 billion.
Lower remittances may compromise the country’s economic growth targets since funds from OFWs boost demand for products ranging from cell phones to condominiums.
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, who returned last week from Dubai, reported that she has secured over 200,000 jobs for Filipinos in the rich Middle East emirate. The government is eyeing the Middle East as an oasis for OFWs amid massive job layoffs in other export-dependent countries.
But quoting Bert Hofman of the World Bank, Diokno stressed that the longer the global recession lasts, the more the risks of large-scale return of migrants.
Billions of dollars worth of remittances sent home every year has created a false sense of security for the government to cure all its economic woes, Diokno reiterated.
“It is time for the government to review its labor policies," he added.
Despite fears that a quarter of a million Filipinos will lose their jobs overseas in the first quarter of 2009, government statistics show that the sheer volume of Filipinos leaving the country to work abroad more than offsets the number of those laid off.
The deployment of overseas Filipino workers (OFW) rose by 25 percent in January 2009 as compared to the same month last year, data from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) showed.
The Philippine government exceeded its deployment target by more than 300,000 new hires in 2008, an increase of almost 30 percent compared to the same period in 2007. - GMANews.tv
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