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EDITOR'S
NOTES
PLR Volume XXVII Number 1, January-June 2003 |
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The
significance of overseas employment
to the economy
cannot be overemphasized.
Deployment of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in
2003 was recorded at 867,969.
This means that more than 800,000 Filipinos found
jobs overseas, a large number of which would presumably
be unemployed locally because of the Philippine
economy’s inability to create as much employment as
the rate of increase in the labor force.
Also, the national income accounts show that OFW
remittances totaled US$7.6 billion in 2003, which is 8.8
percent of the country’s gross national product.
However,
it is not all roses for overseas employment.
Because it is perceived to be more rewarding than
local employment, many Filipinos would do anything to
land an overseas job.
Thus, they fall prey to illegal recruitment or
accept illegal jobs. Media also abounds with stories detailing the sorry plight of
OFWs, as well as the families they leave behind.
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This
issue of the Philippine Labor Review features a
think paper and two researches related to overseas
employment. Ma.
Luisa Gigette S. Imperial wrote “Overseas Employment:
a Growth Strategy” as a think paper meant for
readers to reflect and critically analyze the most
fitting migration policy the Philippines should adopt
amidst local and international developments,
particularly the General Agreement on Trades in
Services.
The
paper provokes readers to think on the question of why
not harness overseas employment as a strategy for
economic growth and development?
It rationalizes that precisely because overseas
employment is not recognized as a tool for development,
its contributions as well as costs are not properly
accounted for while its potential is not maximized.
This
think paper aims to elicit debate on the need to shift
the policy on overseas employment – from
“managing” the flow of labor migration to
“promoting” labor migration as a growth strategy.
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On
the other hand, “The Dynamics of Illegal Migration:
The Philippines-South Korea Case” by Ma.
Angelina Ignacio-Esteban aims to explore the factors
that push or pull a worker to prefer to work illegally.
Her theory is that the labor migration policy of
the labor receiving countries influences the propensity
of a migrant worker to resort to illegal migration.
The type of policy and its implementation can
either encourage or discourage them to choose illegal
means or status.
The
Philippines-Korea case is deemed significant because of
the use of the trainee scheme as the Korean migration
policy on the entry of unskilled foreign workers at the
time of the study.
The study explores how this migration policy
affects the migrant workers’ choices and decisions.
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Dr.
Hector B. Morada’s paper “Left-Behind Households of
Overseas Filipino Workers” attempts to describe the
households left behind by OFWs, contrasting or comparing
them with other households.
He hopes that the description could bring out
some relevant information that may be used to further
refine policies set by government relative to overseas
contract worker, or at least on a very limited scale,
influence the government or relevant agencies to invest
on a comprehensive and possibly regular or periodic
study of migration in general and overseas contract
work, in particular.
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It
is hoped that this issue of the Philippine Labor
Review would not only add substantially to the
literature on overseas employment.
It is also envisioned that readers, especially
the policy makers, would also study deeply the nuances
and dynamics of overseas employment against the backdrop
of local and international development, thereby
formulating policies that could maximize benefits to the
OFWs and their families, and to the economy as well.
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