Filipino Call Center and BPO Sector: The Answer to Brain Drain?

Around the 90s and at the start of the new millennium, the Philippines was beset with persistent unemployment problems. There was inadequate employment growth at one end, and increasing population rates on the other. The labor force increased drastically as a result and demands for employment surged. However, because not enough jobs were created, high competition ensued and many jobseekers were marginalized. Filipinos inevitably left their homeland to hunt for greener pastures abroad.

To this day, overseas migration continues to affect the condition of the country and the mentality of its people. The Philippines was and still is in a state of ‘brain drain.’ Talented Filipinos who have not been accommodated to the domestic labor force and thus could not contribute their talent and skills to help the country develop. For almost two decades, the Philippines government has been making ends meet to generate more jobs for Filipinos.

During the past administration, however, a chunk of this recurrent employment dilemma was significantly addressed. Job campaigns were established and the Filipino call center and BPO industry was at its most progressive phase. Despite her detractors, it is fact that the number of Filipino call centers swelled under the efforts of former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Proof of that is the current report from the National Statistics Office (NSO) which identifies about 0.7% decrease in unemployment. The rise of the Filipino call center and BPO industry helped pull down last year’s 7.6% unemployment rate to 6.9% as of July 2010.

The 80% of Filipino call centers and BPO firms will continue to have a positive impact on local employment. With more and more jobs up for grabs, young as well as middle-age professionals need not have to seek greener pastures in foreign lands. Thanks to booming Filipino call centers and outsourcing firms, the country has witnessed a remarkable increase in employment rates in spite of the global economic recession of the previous year.