generalspeaking

Economically Emerging Philippines

The Philippines is beginning to share its vast, hard-working, educated young workforce with the international community, while on their own geography.  It is not just India now that is benefiting from call centre jobs and bookkeeping at a remove for international businesses looking for cheaper English-speaking labour from low-wage structure economies.

But it will be a long time before the country's overseas workers are overtaken by those remaining at home in helping the country's economy.  Eleven million of the country's 105-million workforce works overseas.  Representing roughly 20% of the working-age population.  Most are doing work as caregivers, and domestic workers in Hong Kong, Singapore and the Middle East. 

And a substantial number, trained as nurses and nursing assistants, fill in the ranks in hospitals and senior car residents in Canada and the United States.  Canada alone is host to over a half million Filipinos.  Emigration from the Philippines has caught up and overtaken China and India as Canada's major source of immigrants from Asia.  Winnipeg, Toronto and Vancouver now boast robust Philippine expatriate communities.

And it is from those communities that about $20-billion a year is send back to the Philippines, accounting for about 13% of the country's GDP.  Helping immeasurably to balance off those provinces in the Philippines with little to no employment other than subsistence rice farming and fishing. 

Foreign investment in the country is hampered by its geographical setting, making it vulnerable to typhoons and floods, and volcanic eruptions.  The country's old and overcrowded ferries carrying its population between islands are prone to maritime disasters.  And it copes as well with violent insurrections by Maoist and Muslim rebels.

On the positive side, there are huge oil and gas deposits in waters within the country's 200-mile exclusive economic zone.  And on the hugely negative side there are the aggressive rumblings and denials emanating from China, posting territorial claims to much of the South China Sea, even though the Philippines' areas of claim are 800-miles distant from China.

But the economy is growing, at a greater-than-modest rate; better than growth posted by any of the European countries, or by North American standards.  The Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corp. predicts that the Philippines is set to climb from the world's 45th-largest economy to 16th by 2050.

If anything can hold the Philippines back from growth and prosperity it might be the traditional nepotism and cronyism of public life.  Let alone the heritage of succession with political dynasties the order of government and electoral fraud still rampant.

Labels: Economy, Education, Energy, Environment, Philippines

posted by Pieface @ Sunday, April 29, 2012