A recent Boston Globe article discussed the dramatic impact of the large-scale migration of workers from the Philippines, and the remittances that they send back home. Two major points are worth noting here:
1. Over 10 million Filipinos workers have migrated overseas, representing an astounding 11% of the country’s population. What does this mean for those left behind? Results are mixed. Economic progress exists in the form of newly constructed houses and private school tuitions. In the meantime, communities often lose their best-trained professionals, while children live without their birth parents.
Widespread migration is not uncommon in some Latin American countries. An estimated one in 10 Ecuadorians and one of every 3 or 4 Salvadorans now live abroad.
2. The global economic downturn has led to job losses for hundreds of thousands of Filipino migrant workers. Still, they have not only maintained, but actually increased the amount of money sent to their home islands. Remittances were up 2.9% during January through June 2009, totaling $8.5 billion. (And yet they are down 11% among Salvadorans during this same time period.) How have migrant workers managed to do this? They are likely working even harder, with multiple jobs, longer hours, or both.
Economic difficulties can increase the vulnerability of migrant workers. Desperate for employment, they may accept lower wages and more dangerous jobs. Despite facing increasing financial limitations, they send remittances due to an even greater concern about the economic situation in their home country.
At the same time, sending this money may cause some migrants to limit opportunities for advancement, since it is not used directly for education, work or other investments in their own lives. (On the other hand, new houses and better-educated students in the country of origin can be a worthwhile future investment should they one day return there.)
The situation described above is likely to persist as global migration remains significant in the 21st century. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) estimates that in 2002 there were 175 million migrants (people living in a country where they were not born). By 2050 this figure will increase to 230 million migrants. In each case this represents approximately 3% of the world’s population.
