Mga Pilipino sa Ibayong-dagat | |
---|---|
Total population | |
15 million (2019) [1] [2] figures below are for various years, per individual supporting sources cited. | |
Regions with significant populations | |
United States | 4,640,313 (2023) (Filipino ancestry and immigrants) [3] |
Canada | 957,355 (2021) [4] |
Saudi Arabia | 725,893 (2022) [5] |
United Arab Emirates | 919,819 (2013) [6] |
Japan | 332,293 (2024) [7] |
Australia | 408,836 (2021) [8] |
Kuwait | 276,000 (2018) [9] |
Malaysia | 245,000 (2009) [10] |
Qatar | 240,000 (2017) [11] |
Singapore | 203,243 (2013) [12] |
France | 150,000-200,000 (2020) [13] [14] |
Spain | 200,000 (2018) [15] |
United Kingdom | 164,000 (2021 UK census) [16] |
Hong Kong | 186,869 (2016) [17] |
Italy | 158,926 (2023 Italian census) [18] |
Jordan | 40,538 (2020) [19] |
Lebanon | 33,424 (2020) [19] |
An overseas Filipino (Filipino : Pilipino sa ibayong-dagat) is a person of full or partial Filipino origin who trace their ancestry back to the Philippines but are living and working outside of the country. They get jobs in countries, and they move to live in countries that they get jobs in, or if they want to migrate to somewhere else, This term generally applies to both people of Filipino ancestry and citizens abroad. As of 2019, there were over 15 million Filipinos overseas. [2]
In 2013, the Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO) estimated that approximately 10.2 million people of Filipino descent lived or worked abroad. [12] This number constitutes about 11 percent of the total population of the Philippines. [20] It is one of the largest diaspora populations, spanning over 100 countries. [21]
The Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) tend to be young and gender-balanced. Based on a survey conducted in 2011, the demographics indicate how the 24-29 age group constitutes 24 percent of the total and is followed by the 30-34 age group (23 percent) working abroad. [22] Male OFWs account for 52 percent of the total OFW population. The slightly smaller percentage of the female overseas workers tend to be younger than their male counterparts. [22] Production workers and service workers account for more than 80 percent of the labor outflows by 2010 and this number is steadily increasing, along with the trend for professional workers, who are mainly nurses and engineers. [22] Filipino seamen, overseas Filipino workers in the maritime industry, make an oversize impact on the global economy, making up a fifth to a quarter of the merchant marine crews, who are responsible for the movement of the majority of goods in the global economy. [23] [24]
The OFW population is consistently increasing through the years and this is partly attributed to the government's encouragement of the outflow of contractual workers as evidenced in policy pronouncements, media campaigns, and other initiatives. [25] For instance, it describes the OFWs as the heroes of the nation, encouraging citizens to take pride in these workers.
In 2012, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), the central bank of the Philippines, expected official remittances coursed through banks and agents to grow 5% over 2011 to US$21 billion, but official remittances constitute only a fraction of all remittances. [26]
Remittances by unofficial, including illegal, channels are estimated by the Asian Bankers Association to be 30 to 40% higher than the official BSP figure. [26]
In 2011, remittances were US$20.118 billion. [27]
In 2012, approximately 80% of the remittances came from only seven countries—United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, and Japan. [27]
In 2018, remittance had increased to $31 billion, which was nearly 10% of the GDP of the Philippines. [23]
In 2019, Overseas Filipinos sent back $32.2 billion to the Philippines. [28]
The Philippine Independence Day Parade, or Philippine Day Parade in New York City, the world's largest outside the Philippines, takes place annually in the United States along Madison Avenue in Midtown Manhattan. The parade is held on the first Sunday in June. Its main purpose is to create awareness of Philippine culture and to raise funds for charity projects in the Philippines and the United States. [29] The Philippine Independence Day Parade is increasingly being attended by both American politicians and Filipino celebrities as well as diplomatic officials who are keenly aware of the significant and increasing political and economic power exerted by the Filipino diaspora in the New York metropolitan area. [30] [31]
Employment conditions overseas are relevant to the individual worker and their families as well as for the sending country and its economic growth and well-being. Poor working conditions for Filipinos hired abroad include long hours, low wages and few chances to visit family. [32] [33] [34] Evidence suggests that these women cope with the emotional stress of familial separation in one of two ways: first, in domestic care situations, they substitute their host-family's children for their own in the love and affection they give, and second, they actively considered the benefit their earnings would have on their children's future. [34] Women often face disadvantages in their employment conditions as they tend to work in the elder/child care and domestic. [35] These occupations are considered low skilled and require little education and training, thereby regularly facing poor working conditions. [32] Women facing just working conditions are more likely to provide their children with adequate nutrition, better education and sufficient health. There is a strong correlation between women's rights and the overall well-being of children. It is therefore a central question to promote women's rights in order to promote children's capabilities. [36] [37]
According to a statement made in 2009 by John Leonard Monterona, the Middle East coordinator of Migrante, a Manila-based OFW organization, every year, an unknown number of Filipinos in Saudi Arabia were then "victims of sexual abuses, maltreatment, unpaid salaries, and other labor malpractices". [38] [ needs update ]
Philippine Labor Migration Policy has historically focused on removing barriers for migrant workers to increase accessibility for employment abroad. Working conditions among Filipinos employed abroad varies depending on whether the host country acknowledges and enforces International labor standards. The standards are set by the ILO, which is an UN agency that 185 of the 193 UN members are part of. Labor standards vary greatly depending on host country regulations and enforcement. One of the main reasons for the large differences in labor standards is due to the fact that ILO only can register complaints and not impose sanctions on governments. Returning overseas Filipinos are known as "Balikbayans". [39]
Emigration policies tend to differ within countries depending on if the occupation is mainly dominated by men or women. Occupations dominated by men tend to be driven by economic incentives whereas emigration policies aimed at women traditionally tend to be value driven, adhering to traditional family roles that favors men's wage work. As women are regularly seen as symbols of national pride and dignity, governments tend to have more protective policies in sectors dominated by women. These policies risk to increase gender inequality in the Philippines and thereby this public policy work against women joining the workforce. [40] Female OFWs most often occupy domestic positions. [41] However, some researchers [33] argue that the cultural trends of female migrancy have the potential to destabilize the gender inequality of the Filipino culture. Evidence suggests that in intact, heterosexual families wherein the wife-mother works overseas, Filipino fathers have the potential to take on greater roles in care-giving to their children, though seldom few actually do. [42] Other researchers report that these situations lead to abuse, particularly of older daughters, who face increased pressure and responsibility in the mother's absence. [35] Likewise, the "reversal of breadwinning and caregiving roles between migrant wives and left-behind husbands" more often results in tension regarding family finances and the role each spouse should play in decision making. [32]
The Philippine government has recently[ when? ] opened up their public policy to promote women working abroad since the world's demand for domestic workers and healthcare workers has increased. [35] This has led to the government reporting a recent increase in women emigrating from the Philippines. A healthcare problem arises as migrating women from the Philippines and other developing countries often create a nursing shortage in the home country. The nurse to patient ratio is down to one nurse to between 40 and 60 patients, in the 1990s, the ratio was one nurse to between 15 and 20 patients. It seems inevitable that the healthcare sector loses experienced nurses as the emigration is increasing. The Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement is seen as a failure by most since only 7% of applicants or 200 nurses a year has been accepted on average – mainly due to resistance by domestic stakeholders and failed program implementation. The result is a "lose-lose" outcome where Philippine workers fail to leverage their skills and a worldwide shortage persists. Despite the fact that Japan has an aging population and many Filipinos want to work in Japan, a solution has not yet been found. The Japanese Nursing Association supports "equal or better" working conditions and salaries for Filipino nurses. In contrast, Yagi propose more flexible wages to make Filipinos more attractive on the Japanese job market. [43] [44] [45]
Results from a focus group in the Philippines shows that the positive impacts from migration of nurses is attributed to the individual migrant and his/her family, while the negative impacts are attributed to the Filipino healthcare system and society in general. In order to fill the nursing shortage in the Philippines, suggestions have been made by several NGOs that nursing-specializing Filipino workers overseas, locally known as "Overseas Filipino Workers" (OFWs), return to the country to train local nurses, for which program training would be required in order for the Philippines to make up for all its nurses migrating abroad. [45]
Wealthier households derive a larger share of their income from abroad. This might suggest that government policies in host countries favor capital-intensive activities. Even though work migration is mainly a low and middle class activity, the high-income households are able to derive a larger share of their income from abroad due to favorable investment policies. These favorable investment policies causes an increase in income inequalities and do not promote domestic investments that can lead to increased standard of living. This inequality threatens to halt the economic development as investments are needed in the Philippines and not abroad in order to increase growth and well-being. A correlation between successful contribution to the home country's economy and amounted total savings upon the migrants return has been found, therefore it is important to decrease income inequalities while attracting capital from abroad to the Philippines. [43] [46]
Many host governments of OFWs have protective policies and barriers making it difficult to enter the job market. Japan has been known for rigorous testing of Filipinos in a way that make them look reluctant to hold up their part of the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement and solely enjoy the benefit of affordable manufacturing in the Philippines, not accepting and educating OFWs. [44]
Returning migrant workers are often argued to have a positive effect on the home economy since they are assumed to gain skills and return with a new perspective. Deskilling has caused many Filipino workers to return less skilled after being assigned simple tasks abroad, this behavior creates discouragement for foreign workers to climb the occupational ladder. Deskilling of labor is especially prevalent among women who often have few and low skill employment options, such as domestic work and child or elder care. Other occupations that recently has seen an increase in deskilling are doctors, teachers and assembly line workers. [43]
To underline what a common problem this deskilling is: Returning migrant workers are calling for returnee integration programs, which suggests that they do not feel prepared to be re-integrated in the domestic workforce. [40]
As the Philippines among other countries who train and export labor repeatedly has faced failures in protecting labor rights, the deskilling of labor has increased on a global scale. A strong worldwide demand for healthcare workers causes many Filipinos to emigrate without ever getting hired or become deskilling while possibly raising their salary. The result is a no-win situation for the sending and receiving country. The receiving countries lose as skilled workers are not fully utilizing their skills while the home country simultaneously experience a shortage of workers in emigrating prone sectors. [44]
Human capital flight is the emigration or immigration of individuals who have received advanced training in their home country. The net benefits of human capital flight for the receiving country are sometimes referred to as a "brain gain" whereas the net costs for the sending country are sometimes referred to as a "brain drain". In occupations with a surplus of graduates, immigration of foreign-trained professionals can aggravate the underemployment of domestic graduates, whereas emigration from an area with a surplus of trained people leads to better opportunities for those remaining. But emigration may cause problems for the home country if the trained people are in short supply there.
A migrant worker is a person who migrates within a home country or outside it to pursue work. Migrant workers usually do not have an intention to stay permanently in the country or region in which they work.
A remittance is a non-commercial transfer of money by a foreign worker, a member of a diaspora community, or a citizen with familial ties abroad, for household income in their home country or homeland. Money sent home by migrants competes with international aid as one of the largest financial inflows to developing countries. Workers' remittances are a significant part of international capital flows, especially with regard to labor-exporting countries.
Overseas Filipino Worker (OFW) is a term often used to refer to Filipino migrant workers, people with Filipino citizenship who reside in another country for a limited period of employment. The number of these workers was roughly 1.77 million between April and September 2020. Of these, female workers comprised a larger portion, making up 59.6 percent, or 1.06 million. However, this number declined to 405.62 thousand between 2019 and 2020.
There are a large number of expatriates inKuwait, with most residing in the capital of Kuwait City. Expatriates are primarily attracted by the employment opportunities in Kuwait. Kuwaiti nationals account for 31% of Kuwait's total population.
Filipino Italians are Italians who are either migrants or descendants of migrants from the Philippines. Filipinos form the fifth-largest migrant community in Italy, after the Romanian, Albanian, North African communities and Ukrainians. Italy is one of the largest European migration destination for Filipinos, the others being the UK and Spain. The Italian capital Rome and the city of Milan is home to the largest Filipino community. Roughly 108,000 documented Filipinos reside in Italy as temporary workers or permanent residents, and estimates on the number of undocumented Filipinos vary widely from 20,000 to 80,000. In 2008, ISTAT, Italy’s statistics office, reported that there were 113,686 documented Filipinos living in Italy whereas the number had been 105,675 in 2007.
Filipinos in the United Arab Emirates are migrants or descendants of the Filipinos living in the United Arab Emirates. 679,819 Filipinos live in the UAE, of which 450,000 live in Dubai, and they form 6.1% of the whole UAE population, and they form 21.3% of the population of Dubai. Dubai is home to the largest population of Filipinos in the UAE, followed by Abu Dhabi and Al Ain. In 2007, Filipinos in the UAE sent more than US$500 million in remittances back to the Philippines.
Filipino Austrians are Austrians of full or partial Filipino descent and are part of the so-called Overseas Filipinos. When excluding Afghan, Iraqi and Syrian refugees, Filipinos make up the fourth largest group of Asians within Austria, behind Iranian, Chinese and Indian people and form the largest Southeast-Asian community in the country. The majority of them live in Vienna, the capital of Austria.
Filipinos in Kuwait are either migrants from or descendants of the Philippines living in Kuwait. As of 2020, there are roughly 241,000 of these Filipinos in Kuwait. Most people in the Filipino community are migrant workers, and approximately 60% of Filipinos in Kuwait are employed as domestic workers.
Filipinos in Saudi Arabia are migrants or descendants of the Philippines who live in Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia is currently the largest employer of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs), and has the largest Filipino population in the Middle East. Filipinos make up the fourth-largest group of foreigners in Saudi Arabia, and are the second-largest source of remittances to the Philippines.
Filipinos in Singapore consists of citizens of the Philippines working or residing in Singapore. According to a 2013 estimate by the Commission on Filipinos Overseas, a total of 203,243 Filipinos work or reside in the country, a portion of which could consist of permanent residents or persons of Filipino descent who are not citizens of the Philippines within the community.
Filipinos in Qatar are either migrants or descendants of the Philippines living in Qatar. Around 260,000 Filipinos live in Qatar, and frequently work in construction and service jobs. As of early 2017, Filipinos are estimated to be the fourth-largest group of foreign workers in Qatar, after Indians, Nepalis and Bangladeshis. With 56,277 Filipinos arriving between January and November 2008, Qatar is the third-largest destination of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW's) in the Middle East after the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, and also the fourth-largest destination of OFW's worldwide. Despite this, and the removal of the Philippines from the pandemic-related travel-restriction "Red List" in August, 2022, Philippine nationals are unable to apply for Qatar tourist visas.
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.
The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration was an agency of the government of the Philippines responsible for opening the benefits of the overseas employment program of the Philippines. It is the main government agency assigned to monitor and supervise overseas recruitment and manning agencies in the Philippines. The POEA's office is located at EDSA corner Ortigas Avenue, Mandaluyong, Philippines.
The Labor policy in the Philippines is specified mainly by the country's Labor Code of the Philippines and through other labor laws. They cover 38 million Filipinos who belong to the labor force and to some extent, as well as overseas workers. They aim to address Filipino workers’ legal rights and their limitations with regard to the hiring process, working conditions, benefits, policymaking on labor within the company, activities, and relations with employees.
Filipinos in Oman are either migrants or descendants of the Philippines living in Oman. As of 2011, there are between 40,000 and 46,000 of these Filipinos in Oman. A large destination for Overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), Oman was the only Middle Eastern nation included on the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration's list of nations safe for OFWs. The country still holds the title up to this day.
Filipinos in Norway comprise expatriates and migrants from the Philippines to Norway and their locally-born descendants. As of 2019, there are approximately 25,000 Filipinos in Norway.
Women migrant workers from developing countries engage in paid employment in countries where they are not citizens. While women have traditionally been considered companions to their husbands in the migratory process, most adult migrant women today are employed in their own right. In 2017, of the 168 million migrant workers, over 68 million were women. The increase in proportion of women migrant workers since the early twentieth century is often referred to as the "feminization of migration".
Overseas Filipinos, including Filipino migrant workers outside the Philippines, have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. As of June 1, 2021, there have been 19,765 confirmed COVID-19 cases of Filipino citizens residing outside the Philippines with 12,037 recoveries and 1,194 deaths. The official count from the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) on the cases of overseas Filipinos is not included in the national tally of the Philippine government. Repatriates on the other hand are included in the national tally of the Department of Health (DOH) but are listed separately from regional counts.
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the national and local governments of the Philippines have coordinated numerous international and domestic evacuations.
The Philippine president, Rodrigo Duterte, asked the estimated 276,000 Filipino workers in Kuwait to return home, appealing to "their sense of patriotism" and offering free flights for the 10,000 estimated to have overstayed their visas.
Timbayan underlined the important contribution of more than 240,000 Filipinos in Qatar engaged in various sectors, being the fourth largest expatriate community in Qatar.
There are an estimated four million Americans of Filipino ancestry in the United States, and more than 250,000 American citizens in the Philippines.
California is home to the largest Filipino population in the U.S.
Population Group: Filipino alone or in any combination - Total population: 288,378,137.
There are an estimated four million Americans of Filipino ancestry in the United States, and more than 250,000 American citizens in the Philippines.
Population Group: Filipino alone or in any combination: 2,807,731
There are an estimated four million Americans of Filipino ancestry in the United States, and more than 250,000 American citizens in the Philippines.