OFWs

OFW: Yet another acronym to describe the large numbers of Filipinos who leave the country to work overseas in search of better wages. The number of Overseas Filipino Workers is estimated to be about 9 million or 10% of the current population. The OFW trend has resulted in a real brain drain with qualified teachers and doctors giving up their jobs here to work as domestic helpers overseas. They can make much more money to support their families by going to Saudi Arabia, Hong Kong or Japan.

Many people in the Philippines now depend on the remittances that OFWs send home to survive. Last year the remittances were estimated to be about $10 billion, a large and important chunk of the country’s economy. The remittances create a buffer that hides the real poverty of the county but is it really a sustainable solution?