The labor migration policy of the Philippine government allows and encourages emigration. The Department of Foreign Affairs, which is one of the government's arms of emigration, grants Filipinos passports that allow entry to foreign countries. In 1952, the Philippine government formed the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) as the agency responsible for opening the benefits of the overseas employment program. In 1995, it enacted the Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipino Act in order to "institute the policies of overseas employment and establish a higher standard of protection and promotion of the welfare of migrant workers and their families and overseas Filipinos in distress." In 2022, the Department of Migrant Workers was formed, incorporating the POEA with its functions and mandate becoming the backbone of the new executive department.
Profile Number of Filipino migrants + The Stock Estimate of Overseas Filipinos. Year Permanent Temporary Irregular Total 20002,551,6002,991,1251,840,4487,383,122 20012,736,5283,049,6221,625,9367,412,086 20022,807,3563,167,9781,607,1707,582,504 20032,865,4123,385,0011,515,7657,766,178 20043,187,5863,559,2571,297,0058,043,848 20053,931,1383,654,727881,1238,466,988 20063,556,0353,802,345874,7928,233,172 20073,692,2574,133,970900,0238,726,250 20083,907,8423,626,259653,6098,187,710 20094,056,9403,846,068658,3708,561,378 20104,423,6804,324,388704,9169,452,984 20114,867,6454,513,1711,074,97210,455,788 20124,925,7974,221,0411,342,79010,489,628 20134,869,7664,207,0181,161,83010,238,614
Demographics Gender Among the Filipino migrants, there is a significant amount of migrants that are Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW). One of the recent trends in Filipino contractual workers is that as years pass by, more and more women have traveled out of the country, outnumbering the men. This can be attributed to the fact that domestic helpers and entertainers are in-demand globally. In fact entertainers destined for Japan and other countries have increased from 3.3% to 18.9% in a span of a decade from 1983 to 1984. As of 2009, the most Filipinos work as household service workers. Out of the total of 71, 557 household workers, 69,669 are women. Year OFW (in thousands) Male Female 2000978527451 20011029528501 20021056554502 2003982508475 20041180604577 20051327667660 20061515751764 20071747890857 200820021034968 200919121010901 201020431068975 2011215811261032 2012222011481072 2013229511541141 2014232011491170 According to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), many of the OFWs are Overseas Contract Workers (OCW). Year OCW (in thousands) Male Female
2000 922
2001 964
2002 990
2003 933 486 447
2004 1098 560 538
2005 1214
2006 1384
2007 1614
2008 1881
2009 1890
2010 1940
2011 2057 1080 978
2012 2110 1093 1016
2013 2209 1116 1092
2014 2228 1107 1121
Age OFWs are distributed among different age groups. The 25-29 age bracket comprises more OFWs than the other age groups. Year/Age 18-24 25-29 30-34 35-39 40-44 45+
2000 12.1% 23.2% 18.3% 15.2% 12.3% 18.7%
2001 12.3% 22.1% 18.5% 14.3% 13.3% 19.5%
2002 11.6% 23.5% 17.1% 15.1% 13.9% 18.8%
2003 9.7% 21.3% 21.3% 16.9% 13.1% 17.7%
2004 11.5% 23.5% 19.4% 15.7% 13.0% 17.0%
2005 11.8% 23.2% 19.1% 15.8% 13.1% 17.0%
2006 10.7% 24.6% 19.8% 15.0% 12.8% 17.1%
2007 10.0% 24.5% 20.7% 16.3% 11.0% 17.5%
2008 10.0% 25.7% 21.0% 15.1% 11.8% 16.4%
2009 9.8% 24.8% 21.7% 15.5% 12.0% 16.2%
2010 9.0% 25.0% 22.9% 15.2% 11.4% 16.6%
2011 9.3% 23.6% 22.6% 15.9% 11.8% 16.8%
2012 8.2% 24.1% 22.3% 15.9% 12.2% 17.3%
2013 7.8% 23.6% 24.3% 16.0% 11.8% 16.4%
2014 8.2% 24.8% 23.7% 15.8% 11.6% 15.8%
Origin OFWs come from all parts of the country, and many of them come from provinces of the Philippines. YearNCR200017.6%200119.4%200220.5%200318.5%200417.2%200518.4%200616.4%200716.0%200814.0%200913.9%201013.8%201112.5%201212.6%201312.8%201410.5%
Destination + Destinations of Filipino migrants Year Africa Asia, East & South Asia, West Europe Americas Oceania
2000 32,011 1,720,844 1,223,641 802,035 3,137,556 268,711
2001 64,900 1,398,856 1,352,795 739,035 3,301,323 299,908
2002 66,243 1,453,296 1,371,621 803,169 3,334,297 298,609
2003 70,979 1,532,872 1,471,849 767,882 3,381,815 312,963
2004 38,720 1,331,143 1,522,220 548,072 3,221,543 252,437
2005 40,067 1,107,872 1,638,350 577,005 3,110,257 256,249
2006 50,361 1,016,432 1,795,825 616,436 3,256,036 274,435
2007 45,861 1,006,891 2,136,159 674,121 3,330,304 294,374
2008 54,554 1,085,049 2,261,924 693,079 3,518,699 312,792
2009 64,736 1,074,496 2,415,898 722,427 3,582,879 388,520
2010 74,483 1,232,715 2,850,591 663,889 3,883,356 400,800
2011 63,508 1,449,373 2,987,923 808,779 4,326,059 451,042
2012 60,873 1,599,352 2,835,536 768,326 4,396,352 462,324
2013 59,036 1,668,827 2,489,430 866,187 4,313,476 474,492
According to the World Bank, 4,275,200 Filipinos have emigrated out of the country as of 2010. Among those who travel abroad are Overseas Contractual Workers (41%), immigrants (29%) and those who are undocumented (30%). As of 2009, 1,422,586 Filipino workers have contributed to remittances from abroad.The Philippines. World Bank. Retrieved May 20, 2011. According to the book Philippine Labour Migration, these workers can be categorized into eight criteria, by type, countries of deployment, gender, rural or urban origin, civil status, age, education and skills, and occupation.
OFW Destinations Although many permanent migrants are residing in the Americas, most OFWs are working in Asian countries. As of 2013, the top destinations for OFWs are Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Hong Kong, and Singapore. Year Africa Asia Australia Europe North & South America
2000 0.8% 77.3% 2.5% 9.3% 8.2%
2001 0.6% 78.1% 2.1% 10.4% 7.5%
2002 1.4% 76.5% 1.7% 11.5% 8.2%
2003 0.8% 76.6% 2.1% 9.4% 9.6%
2004 1.2% 77.1% 2.0% 10.2% 8.9%
2005 1.7% 76.6% 1.9% 9.7% 9.8%
2006 1.7% 78.3% 1.2% 9.5% 9.2%
2007 1.2% 78.1% 1.9% 9.2% 9.3%
2008 1.5% 78.2% 2.4% 9.4% 8.4%
2009 2.0% 79.3% 2.6% 8.3% 7.9%
2010 1.8% 80.0% 2.0% 8.3% 7.9%
2011 1.7% 80.4% 1.7% 8.6% 7.6%
2012 1.7% 79.7% 2.2% 8.7% 7.6%
2013 1.7% 81.2% 2.1% 7.7% 7.3%
2014 1.6% 83.0% 1.7% 7.1% 6.5%
Usual occupations Number of Deployed Landbased Overseas Filipino Workers by Major Occupational Category, New Hires Year Professional, technical and related workers Administrative and managerial workers Clerical workers Sales workers Service workers Agricultural workers Production workers
2003 78,956 387 3,965 2,490 84,201 413 61,352
2004 94,147 565 5,323 3,950 113,423 632 63,719
2005 63,941 490 5,538 4,261 133,907 350 74,802
2006 41,258 817 7,912 5,517 144,321 807 103,584
2007 43,225 1,139 13,662 7,942 107,135 952 121,715
2008 49,649 1,516 18,101 11,525 123,332 1,354 132,295
2009 47,886 1,290 15,403 8,348 138,222 1,349 117,609
2010 41,835 1,439 10,706 7,242 154,535 1,122 120,647
2011 61,598 4,950 14,115 8,932 201,512 1,757 141,215
2012 54,617 3,241 13,960 9,346 222,260 1,563 146,448
2013 53,840 1,947 12,893 9,220 230,030 2,233 147,776
Remittances from overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) A chart on the cash and personal remittances of OFWs in millions of US Dollars 20112012201320142015**Personal remittances21,92223,35225,36926,9688,647Cash remittances20,11721,39122,98424,3487,807
* Remittances coursed through a bank
**Partial data only until April 2015
A chart on remittances of OFWs according to regions in millions of US dollars 201320142015*Americas10,902.811,167.93,616.3Middle East4,348.75,334.51,677.7Europe3,953.13,761.11,151.8Asia3,329.23,545.31,180.5Oceania420.0510.3165.4Africa30.229.114.9 *Partial data only until April 2015
Migration policy History The history of Philippine labor migration policies can be traced as far back as 1521, when the Filipino natives started to man ships in the Manila–Acapulco galleon trade. Filipinos started working in the dockyards and aboard ships traveling as far as Mexico, under the mandate of Spanish colonizers. In order to escape maltreatment by the Spaniards, many of those Filipino workers resorted to "jumping ship", settling in state ports like Acapulco, Mexico and Louisiana, USA. They were the first generation of Filipino labor migrants. Since then, three "waves" of labor migration occurred (in the 1900-1940's, the 1940s-1970's, and the 1970s-1990's),Battistella, Graziano, Philippine labor migration : impact and policy (Quezon City : Scalabrini Migration Center), 1992. each wave taking the Philippines closer to becoming one of the world's largest labor exporting countries, as it is today.
The majority or the bulk of the temporary migration/ contractual/ labor migration started in the mid-1970s with the triggering of the formal adoption of the Overseas Employment Program with the Philippine Labor Code in 1974. It was also in the mid-1970s that the government started to mobilize and promote labor migration in the Middle East as it has opened an opportunity for the Ferdinand Marcos, the then President of the Philippines, to export young unemployed men from the stagnating economy and be able to regulate and encourage labor outflows. The third wave of migration that took place in the 1970s was due to the economic downturn caused by an increase in crude oil prices and job loss in the country. On the other side of the globe, however, oil-exporting countries were making large profits as this created a demand for more laborers to support their new projects. Marcos saw this as a chance to utilize the Philippines’ surplus labor and he created a foreign policy called "Development Diplomacy," which focused on exporting such surplus labor. In 1980, the number of overseas workers set for deployment by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) had increased by 75% from that of the previous year.
Factors Labor flows in the Philippines has been determined mainly by three factors: rapid population growth, uneven development and labor oversupply and unemployment. Rapid population growth has been a large contributing factor in labor migration. Rapid population growth, which was one of the highest in the world during the 70s-90s, has caused urban growth problems such as overcrowding, traffic congestion, the emergence of squatter areas and slums and ultimately unemployment. This has led migrant workers from the countryside explore outside of the country. Uneven population distribution of in the urbanized areas of the country and its other regions has caused socioeconomic imbalance. This socioeconomic imbalance or disparities has been seen to have caused the augmentation of the macroeconomic policies rendering it favourable for the urbanized areas, giving much attention to the industrial sector than the agricultural sector on the other regions of the country. Trade policies have also been seen to be highly biased on the rural development favouring industrial centers like Metro Manila. Poor labor absorptive capacity of the country's economy has been a contributing factor for the magnitude of labor migration outside the country. This draws back to the rapid growth of the population outpacing the growth of the country thus causing further unemployment.
Government policies