Brain Drain in the Philippines

Starting at around the 1970s, Filipinos have already been immigrating to other nations like the USA, Middle East, Canada, Australia and many other countries to find work in order to send money back home.

A report from Geneva's International Labour Office showed that the number of professional workers who went abroad exceeded the net addition to the professionals in the workforce during the 1990s.

Highly skilled physicians, teachers, seamen, engineers, nurses, and many others who received such a high level of university training only to apply their knowledge and expertise in other countries.

Indeed the massive amount of income they're bringing in to the country through their remittances has been keeping the country's economy afloat for many years and counting.

What is this doing to the local workforce, however?

There is no direct information on the actual magnitude of brain drain from the Philippines and how much this has changed over time. Occasional surveys may reveal the extent of location of Philippine professionals but there is no regular monitoring of movements. For example, one survey in the seventies indicated that the number of physicians in the United States amounted to half of the registered physicians in the Philippines.
Source: Skilled Labour Migration from Developing Countries: Study on the Philippines

Even without the numbers, just go to the POEA/OWWA offices anywhere in the country and you will see that everyday, hundreds of Filipinos would be there processing their applications or renewing their contracts all hoping to go out of the country and work.


It's not hard to see why, simply ask around and visit the homes of some families whose a family member is an OFW (Overseas Filipino Worker) and you'll often find that they're living way better than most Filipinos.

So for most OFWs, the reason really is just one word: economic. Although the remittances from these workers are good for the Philippine economy, it is not sustainable. The Philippines, I think, is still challenged to be able to produce something from within and be able to export goods and services for a more sustainable income. In addition, when the businesses within the country become globally competitive with good salary grids, people won't have to go somewhere else to find that elusive "Greener Pasture".

Coming to NZ

I just wanna share an article I wrote in one of my wikis online. It's in "Bisaya", sorry for those who can't understand it. I'll try and find time to translate it in English and post it here later. Hopefully it'll be useful to anyone.

http://aberilla.wiki.zoho.com/Coming-to-NZ.html

To summarize, anyway, all that I'm trying to convey in that article is that going abroad does not necessarily mean hundreds of thousands of pesos as what most people would think. Indeed, I've met a lot of OFWs who really spent large amounts of money in order to get on a plane and go abroad only to find that when they arrive, some of them still have to find work and others are working on something they are not expecting.

Most people go to agencies and attend seminars and trainings in order to prepare themselves to go abroad. Spending lots of money in the process even though the hope of a good working environment and good pay is still hazy. Well, I'm here to tell you, you don't have to! I am a living proof of this testimonial.

Ever since I got out of Pinas and started working and living here in NZ, I've had lots of realizations about our country, our people, values - good and bad, what we've done and what we can do, etc. I am now boldly exposing myself and putting my foot forward to try and make better the lives of other Pinoys out there.

I encourage you comment on my posts here and share your experiences if you think others might benefit from it. If you want to post in this blog, send me a note, by commenting any post in this blog, and I'll be glad to have you aboard as an author. There's only one rule here: help genuinely - if you're not here to help and just bloat out your heartaches and pains and disappointments and attack other people then it's no place for you. I'm looking for people who have gone past the whining stage, who have grown and matured and ready to move forward and make things happen for the betterment of everybody.

Kumusta!

Greetings mga kababayan! Kumusta!

For those who don't know me, I'm Dennis, an OFW currently working and living in New Zealand. I'm a software engineer by trade. A full-time father, husband and embedded software design engineer. You might think, how can I be full time in all those roles??? Go figure...

Anyways, I'm creating this blog in the hope of helping out other OFW's or OFW-wanna-be's out there or any other Pinoys living or working abroad or thinking about it. I'm all about helping -- genuine help. Feel free to share, comment and be heard. Let's help each other, that's the only way to beat the odds of poverty and mis-opportunity we have in the Philippines. As what I've heard from someone a long time ago,

"I can only do much, you can do more, but together we can do a lot."

Kudos mga kapatid!