Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 2) — Remittances from Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW) rose 13 percent to ₱203 billion (US$ 4.0 billion) in the six months to September 2016 compared to a year ago, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said.
This, even as the PSA reported a drop of 200,000 to 2.2 million in the number of OFWs who worked abroad at any time in that period compared to 2015. The PSA did not cite a reason for the drop in the figure, in its statement obtained Tuesday.
Of the total remittances in 2016, ₱146 billion were cash sent home, ₱45.7 billion were cash that the OFWs themselves brought home, and ₱11.1 billion were in kind, the PSA said.
“The remittances sent by OFWs to their respective families may just be a part of the total salary received by the OFWs,” it added.
Laborers and unskilled workers were the biggest senders of remittances with a total of almost ₱32 billion pesos sent home from April to September 2016, slightly higher from ₱29.2 billion in 2015. This comes out to an average of ₱48,000 sent home by each OFW who is an unskilled worker in 2016, up from ₱41,000 a year ago.
Saudi Arabia continued to be the top destination of OFWs, even with a decreased share of 23.8 percent from 2015’s 24.7 percent. This was followed by the United Arab Emirates at 15.5 percent, Europe at 6.6 percent, Kuwait at 6.4 percent, and Qatar at 6.2 percent, the PSA said
To underscore the importance of the Middle East in providing jobs to millions of OFWs, President Rodrigo Duterte made state visits particularly to Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and Qatar in April 2016.
Duterte vows better lives for OFWs in Saudi
OFWs with elementary occupations remained the largest job group at 34.5 percent. The PSA defines elementary occupations as those that “involve the performance of simple and routine tasks which may require the use of handheld tools and considerable physical effort.” The same sector comprised 33.2 percent a year ago.
Among the 2.2 million OFWs in the six-month period in 2016, 53.6 percent were female, an increase from 51.1 percent a year ago.
The Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, and Quezon (CALABARZON) region retained its top spot as the source of the biggest number of OFWs abroad in the survey period at 21 percent in 2016, up from the previous year’s 17.9 percent.
Since the start of his administration in July 2016, President Duterte has promised to improve the Philippine economy to end the exodus of Filipinos going abroad to find jobs.
Duterte to Filipinos in Japan: One day you will not have to work overseas
“Ako po ay nagsisikap that we will earn more so that by the time, ito ang pangako ko at sana naman sa Diyos at sa inyo na ang pagtrabaho niyo sa labas, hanggang diyan na lang. Next generation, Pilipinas na,” Duterte said in a speech to OFWs in Japan last year.
[Translation: I work hard that we will earn more so that by the time, this is my promise to you and God and to those working abroad, this will be the last. The next generation of Filipinos will work in the Philippines.
