One for the money, two for the show

[rulebreaker]

By Paul M. Icamina, Special Reports Editor

The flow of people from poor to rich countries is increasing, peaking at 200 million in recent years.
Women make up half of this mass migration.
About 190 countries are involved as points of origin, transit or destinations.

The Philippines, which targets the deployment of 1 million Filipino workers abroad, received some US$14 billion in remittances last year.

According to the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, migrants contribute to the economies of countries of origin and destination, amounting to US$226 billion worldwide in 2004.

Remittances to less-developed regions were US$145 billion, representing 1.7 percent of GDP.

The most comprehensive and up-to-date numbers of international migration was published in 2006 by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs-Population Division. Based on 2005 figures, there were 191 million persons who lived outside their country of birth.

That is 3 percent of the 6.5- billion world population. It indicates that movement has been relatively stable in the last 40 years or so; the figure was 75 million in 1960, or 2.5 percent of world population then.

Almost one in 10 persons in more developed regions was a migrant compared to one of every 70 persons in poor regions. Six out of 10 of migrants reside in more developed countries, 64 million of them in Europe, 53 million in Asia and 45 million in Northern America.

Three out of four were in just 28 countries, and one in every five was in the United States. Nearly half were females.

Big money

Defying government projections of massive unemployment abroad for millions of Filipinos, about 8 million Filipino workers overseas sent home $1.3 billion in September alone, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas reported last week.

Remittances grew 16.9 percent year-on-year with the first nine months of 2008 recording $12.3 billion, up 17.1 percent from a year ago.

The latest figures bring on track government forecasts of up to $16 billion in remittances this year. If things go well with the global economy, remittances may even reach $18.9 billion in 2009.

Last year, remittances reached a record $14.4 billion, a full 10 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), or the total value of all final goods and services produced in the country in a year.

The major sources are the US, Saudi Arabia, Canada, the United Kingdom, Italy, United Arab Emirates, Japan, Singapore and Hong Kong.

Remittances “remains a source of strength for the economy amid the challenging external environment,” central bank Governor Amando Tetangco Jr. said.

This year, according to the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA), Filipinos deployed abroad increased by 25.9 percent to 1.005 million compared with 798,731.

Newly hired Filipinos were mostly deployed to the Middle East, particularly Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Kuwait, as well as Taiwan and Hong Kong.

The United Nations Population Division reports that Filipinos lead the number of foreigners in Australia, Brunei, Cambodia, Canada, Cyprus, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Malaysia, the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Oman, Palau, Saudi Arabia, the Solomon Islands and the United States.

The 4,455 Filipinos in the tiny island of Palau, only a 45-minute jet flight from Cebu, are the biggest group of foreigners there. In the US, with 38.4 million foreigners, the 3.4 million Filipinos are just behind Mexicans as the biggest ethnic group. And 50,165 Filipinos form the third-biggest alien population in South Korea.

Labor export

“By all indications, the Philippine government intends to pursue its labor export program,” says the European Commission to the Philippines, “in spite of its claim of not promoting overseas employment as a means to sustain economic growth and achieve national development.”

The government predicts remittances would likely approach if not surpass this year the US$15-billion level. In 2007, remittances reached US$14.5 billion.

Remittances of US$11.6 billion from highly skilled workers in 2005 contributed 13.5 percent to Gross Domestic Product.

According to the 2007 Yearbook of Labor Statistics on Overseas Filipino Workers, there were 809,740 land-based and 260,454 sea-based Filipinos working abroad in 2007.

“The Philippine trade union movement takes issue with the way the government has exploited the Filipino migrant and contract workers over the years,” said a manifesto circulated during the international forum on migration here last month.

“After three decades of sending millions of Filipinos to work and live abroad, the government continues to rely on the export of labor as an unarticulated development strategy to keep the country afloat,” said the manifesto signed by the Labor Alliance for Better Order and Reforms, Philippine Affiliates of the Public Services International and the Solidarity of Unions and Labor Organizations for New Government.

“Over the years the government has failed to create an economy that can provide jobs for its people. The government has reduced labor to a commodity that can be traded, like bananas, pineapple and shrimps and tuna.”

The country stays afloat in critical times because of the US$14 billion to as much as US$20 billion in remittances, it said, adding the inflows largely went into consumption and there was never any serious program to put the huge foreign currency into usable or purposive investment.

Writing about the OFW and the worldwide migration phenomena made think of two songs that I,ve used for the title of this article. One is Bob Marley,s rap and reggae song,”Exodus.” The other is Horace Brown,s R ‘n B “One for the Money.”

“Exodus, all right! Movement of the people!
“Exodus: Movement of the people!
“Movement of the people!
“Move! Move! Move! Move! Move! Move!
“Open your eyes and look within:
“Are you satisfied with the life you,re living?”
Horace Brown,s song goes:
“One for the money
“Two for the show
“Three to get the honeys
“Here we go…”