Banks remain top choice for OFW remittances



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Tuesday, 11 September 2012 10:14
MANILA, Philippines – The banking system remains the favored platform of overseas Filipinos workers (OFWs) for sending money to beneficiaries in the Philippines.
Likewise, the survey results released by the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) covering the periods April to September 2011, show that of the 2.2 million Filipinos who bagged jobs abroad, the Middle East is still the top destination for migrating Filipinos.
In the six month period covered by the survey, Filipinos sent P156.3 billion, nearly 11 percent better from P141.2 billion in the same period in 2010. Incidentally, total remittances for 2011 amounted to $20.1 billion (roughly P885 billion).
Majority of OFWs sent their remittance through banks (71.9 percent), while others remit money through door-to-door (6.2 percent), agency/local office (4.7 percent), friends/co-workers (0.5 percent), or through other means (16.8 percent).
According to the Bangko Sental ng Pilipinas (BSP), remittances amounted to $11.3 billion in the first six months of 2012, of which $10.1 billion was coursed through the formal or banking sector.
Saudi Arabia was the number host country or destination for Filipino workers accounting for 22.6 percent market share, followed by United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Qatar with 14.6 percent and 6.9 percent market shares, respectively.
In terms of occupation, top on the list were laborers and unskilled workers at 32.7 percent, followed by service workers, and shop and market sales workers, 15.5 percent.
Plant and machine operators and assemblers, as well as trade and related workers comprised 13.6 percent and 12.8 percent, respectively, while professionals shared 10.6 percent.
Of the estimated 2.2 million OFWs, 52.2 percent were males and 47.8 percent were females. Almost half (46.2 percent) of the overseas Filipinos were aged 25 to 34 years old.
The leading source of migrating Filipinos in terms of region was the Cavite-Laguna-Batangas-Rizal zone (CALABARZON) accounting for 16.5 percent market share, followed by Central Luzon or Region III, 14.3 percent, and NCR, 12.5 percent. Meanwhile, Caraga had the least percent share of only 1.6 percent.
Meanwhile, data from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) revealed that for the period January-December 2011, the number of workers deployed overseas increased by 14.8 percent to 1,687,831 from 1,470,826 in the same period a year ago.
Nearly 80 percent were land-based workers (1,318,727), more than 25 percent of which were newly hired workers (437,720).
The leading destinations of the land-based workers (new hires and rehires) were Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Qatar. Data from the POEA also showed that in January-July 2012, approved job orders aggregated 472,261, of which about 35 percent consisted of processed job orders for services, professional, technical, and production and related workers. The bulk of processed job orders were intended for the manpower requirements in Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait and Taiwan.
In terms of the share to total remittances in the first six months of the year, the leading country sources were the US (42.8 percent), Canada (9.6 percent), Saudi Arabia (7.6 percent), Japan (five percent), the United Kingdom (4.8 percent), Singapore (4.2 percent), and the United Arab Emirates (4.1 percent).
Meanwhile, the results of the survey were embodied in the Survey on Overseas Filipinos (SOF) under the Statistical Survey Review and Clearance System (SSRCS). The SOF is a nationwide survey conducted every year by the National Statistics Office (NSO).
The SOF aims at: (a) obtaining national estimates on the number of overseas Filipinos, including overseas workers, and their socio-economic characteristics; and (b) providing estimates on the amount and mode of remittances received by their families.
Incidentally, the 2012 SOF will be conducted on October 8-31, 2012 as rider to the October round of the Labor Force Survey (LFS) of the NSO.

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