As a development worker working and traveling in developing countries, I noticed one common and disturbing theme: POVERTY. For me, poverty is THE development issue. It has been a perennial problem that majority of the world’s population faces. But the lack of impact of development efforts on developing countries, despite the years and the billions of dollars spent on programs makes me wonder if development programs helping poor countries as intended or are they fostering dependency on international aid, corruption within the government and consequently, furthering poverty and underdevelopment? This has led me to one major question: what have we not done right?
This is the third part of my effort at examining the historical development trends and progress, with a focus on the Philippines.
THE PHILIPPINE BRAIN DRAIN
The government’s inability to utilize local resources, knowledge and skills for the development of the country is starkly evident in the education-employment situation. The high literacy rate of the Philippines did not produce the long term impact on development as expected.
It is notable that government-run public schools offer free elementary and secondary education to all Filipino children, resulting to the high literacy rate. Only a fraction of high school graduates proceeds to the next level because college or university education is very expensive. Even subsidized state colleges and universities are still too expensive for poor people to afford.
But Filipinos value education so much that poor people would go to some lengths, such as selling or borrowing (as collateral) on their meager properties (land, house, livestock, others) just to send their children to college and university. Thus, there are still a considerable number of university graduates every year who need jobs that the government is unable to provide.
This surplus of skilled labor consequently led to the Philippine “brain drain” phenomenon as more and more Filipinos seek employment abroad. The low salary rates in the country pushed even those who already hold jobs to seek employment in other countries that offer higher wages, even if it meant having to work at a much lower level than their qualifications or previous positions. Coming from the biggest English-speaking nation in Asia, with relatively cheap labor, Filipinos were the preferred choice in non-English-speaking countries.
The first to go were the teachers, midwives, accountants and secretaries to work as domestic helpers initially in neighboring rich countries like Hong Kong and Singapore. The geographical coverage eventually included Saudi Arabia and other gulf countries as the type of work also expanded to include other service-related employment, such as nursing, entertainment, hotel, restaurant and construction, among others. The recent batch of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) was mostly comprised of medical practitioners in response to the increase in the demand for health care workers in Europe and the USA.
As gender equality spread in developed nations in the west during the last quarter of the 20th century, more jobs became available to women. Nursing, which was predominantly a female occupation became the least preferred work as women in these countries chose less demanding jobs with higher pay. Registration in nursing schools dropped, consequently leading to inadequate labor supply in hospitals and other health care institutions. Thus, by the start of the 21st century when European countries and the US found themselves needing more health care service providers to cater to the baby boomers of the 60’s, they were forced to look for labor supply outside their own territories.
Having a surplus of nurses, the Philippines became one of the first, if not the biggest supplier of health care service providers to these countries. The English language skill of Filipinos, coupled with other Filipinos characteristics and values have boosted the demand for Filipino health care workers. Enrollment in nursing and health care courses in colleges and universities increased. New training institutes specifically offering short courses on health care sprung around the country. Some of these short courses are bundled with promises of immediate employment abroad after completion of the course.
The salaries of these health workers in Europe and the US are higher than employment wages and income from professional practice in the Philippines. This encourages licensed doctors and qualified professionals from other fields (education, engineering, accounting, etc.) to go back to school to study either the four-year nursing course (for those who can afford the time and tuition) or the short health care courses.
The migration of skilled workers caused more problems other than the brain drain. It has divided families, leaving children with at least only one parent (sometimes even none). Many of the husbands and wives left behind have become dependent on their spouse’s remittances. The absence of the spouse led husbands to seek other women and wives other men. The children experienced emotional issues, resulting to delinquency and other social problems. A number of husbands and wives are known to squander their spouse’s income on alcohol, gambling and luxury items. Thus, many OFWs find that they have no savings when they come home, pushing them to work abroad again. And this becomes the OFW cycle that traps them.
The brain drain phenomenon however, also had positive outcomes especially at the national and household levels. Overseas jobs have absorbed a considerable percentage of unemployed Filipinos. The remittances of OFWs comprise a sizable percentage of the GDP. It has lifted many families from poverty, allowing them to buy properties and send children to good schools.
Yet, the positive gains from the brain drain are precariously anchored on the economies of other countries. The current economic recession in Europe and the US has already affected much of the world’s economies, including Japan, one of major export markets (along with the US) of Philippine products. Being export-oriented (labor and products), the Philippines is expected to be gravely hit. The rising industry of customer service call centers in the country, which has somehow slackened the brain drain, is also expected to take a beating. These companies are mainly US and Europe-owned. As the recession continues, the companies will be forced to shrink their customer service employees in an effort to save the business from total collapse and bankruptcy.
The effects of the recession are already being felt. Many OFWs, along with call center employees find themselves unemployed. Those in cash crop production have to contend with the shrinking export market. At present, employment rate is increasing and there is a surge of OFW returnees who lost their jobs and consequently leading to a drop in remittances. All of these only prove the superficiality of Philippine development.
Please wait for the last part of this 4-part post...
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