Data on International Migration from the Philippines Graziano Battistella Scalabrini Migration Center Trends in Migration Flows from the Philippines The event that affected migration flows from the Philippines in the early 1990s was the Gulf war. Like other sending countries, the Philippines was caught without contingency plan in place. Last minute drawn plans could not have had any practical application because the actual implementation could not count on specific resources. As it happened, the approximately 30,000 Filipinos repatriated from Kuwait utilized resources mobilized by the International Organization for Migration in addition to contributions from the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration Fund, which were not intended for such unforeseen events. Most of all, the weakness of contingency plans lied on the scarce knowledge of the actual number of Filipinos working in the war zone and there whereabouts. The episode certainly dramatized the need for better data on overseas labor. Italso made clear that if the Philippines had not been more adversely affected, it was because of the relative dispersion of the labor force abroad in different areas of the globe. Both government officials and recruiting agencies learned that such diversification had to be increased and that the Middle East could not be the only region of deployment of migrant workers. Thus, one immediate result of the Gulf War was the increase in number of Filipinos deployed in other regions than the Middle East (Table 3). The second effect, the increase in absolute number of Filipinos abroad, including the Middle Fast, was nut expected, or at least not in such measure. With Iraq not participating in the reconstruction process because of the sanctions and with Kuwait low av ailability of funds because of the war expenses, it was anticipated that demand for foreign workers should not have increased soon. However, at the end of 1991 the increase of landbased Filipino overseas contract workers in relation to the previous year was Asian and Pacific Migration Journal, Vol. 4, No. 4, 1995 589
590 ASIAN AND PACIFIC MIGRATION JOURNAL 46 percent (Table 1), and the increase toward the Middle East was 38 percent (Table 3). The trend for the following years continued on the upward side. The annual increment of Filipino contract migration was 11 percent for 1992, one percent for 1993 and three percent for 1994 (Table 1). The decrease of the increment in the last two years suggests that perhaps a plateau has already been reached and migration might even decrease in the second part of the 1990s. Specifically, the decrease of migration to the Middle East (twelve percent in 1993 and six percent in 1994 - see Table 3), and to Saudi Arabia in particular (Table 4), is very significant, since the Middle East has always absorbed the largest portion of Filipino migrants. In spite of the decrease of migration to the Middle East in 1993 and 1994, the overall number of Filipino migrants continued to increase because of the increment of migration toward East and Southeast Asia. Such increase has been constant in the 1990s, and in 1994 the number going to Asia was more than twice the number of 1990 (Table 3). While in 1990 only two Asian nations (Japan and Hong Kong) - in addition to the US territory of Saipan - were among the first ten countries of destination for Filipinos, in 1994 Asian nations in the top ten countries of immigration were six (Table 4). The most notable addition to the group was Taiwan, whose opening to labor immigration attracted immediately a high number of Filipinos. If deployment of land-based contract workers might have reached its peak already, seafarers from the Philippines continue to increase and in 1994 they were 38 percent more than in 1990 (Table 1). Such increase, which has been constant for the past twenty years, is due to the explicit promotion of seafarers labor by the Philippine government, since the sector is perceived as better organized and less problematic than contract migration. Data on gender distribution of migration, when available, point to an increase of participation of women in labor migration, even though data for 1994 shift back to a predominance of male over female. However, when comparing data on new migration contracts and contracts which are renewed, it is apparent that women are more numerous than men in the new contract category (Table 2). This indicates that contracts for women are less renewable and female migration is less stable. Female migration is concentrated on practically three sectors: domestic work, entertainment and health, which make up 82 percent of the deployment. Domestic workers count for almost 45 percent of the annual deployment of newly hired contract workers. They work basically in two regions: Asia (55 percent) and the Middle East (41 percent) (Table 5). Other regions, like Europe and North America, do not figure prominently in the newly hired group since they allow for long-term residence. Therefore, workers can remain and be rehired without returning to the Philippines. Mole migration is highly directed toward production work which absorb
DATA ON INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION FROM THE PHILIPPINES 591 70 percent of the newly hired. The structure of the demand appears to be fairly stable and no major changes have surfaced in the early 1990s (Table 6). Filipino Migrant Workers Abroad Data on stocks of migrant workers abroad are normally produced by the receiving countries. In this regard, however, considering the dispersion of Filipinos abroad, it is difficult to arrive at a complete result. Therefore, one has to rely on estimates. The most recent of such estimates, reported by the Philippine Department of Labor, speaks of 4.2 million Filipino workers overseas, of which 2.4 million are documented and 1.8 million are undocumented. Not much is said on the methodology utilized to arrive at such figures, except that they are based on reports from embassies and consulates. Estimates of Filipino migrant workers must consider the following aspects: generally a work contract lasts for two years, but it is shorter for entertainers and can also be shorter in certain countries, such as Taiwan, or for trainees. normally, migrants must return to the Philippines after the end of contract, even if the contract is renewed. Figures concerning annual outflow of Filipinos capture both newly hired as well as re-hired workers. in most receiving countries it is not possible to remain beyond the length of contract. However, European countries allow for long-term residence and Canada allows for change of status of domestic workers to landed immigrants. an unspecified number of workers go abroad as tourists and later find employment. Likewise, a number of workers overstay their visa and become irregular workers in the country of employment. These will constitute the estimated number of undocumented workers. In view of the previous considerations, an estimate of approximately 1.5 million Filipino overseas contract workers abroad at any particular time is credible. As for the number of undocumented Filipinos abroad, we do not have refined criteria for an accurate estimate. Data Collection Migration data are traditionally problematic in most countries. Normally, the most reliable data are originated by the receiving countries. The
592 ASIAN AND PACIFIC MIGRATION JOURNAL Philippines, however, has provided data since the beginning of the over-seas labor program. Unfortunately, such data are not exempt from flaws. Sources of data The agency responsible for gathering data on Filipino migration is the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration, where contracts for overseas labor are processed. There are three sources of data concerning labor migration from the Philippines. First is the overseas employment certificate, which is surrendered at the airport, before embarking. Such certificate is limited to some biodata and the country of destination. The information sheet, instead, is more comprehensive and is part of the file for the processing of a contract. It is divided in three parts: personal data (including birth, address, sex and civil status); the beneficiary of remittances, insurance and other benefits; specific aspects related to the contract (including the name of employer, the country of work, duration of contract, basic salary, position and name of recruiting agency). A few limitations in the information sheet concern the lack of data on the education and occupation of the contract worker. It is observed that data on educational background are not reliable and data on occupation can only refer to the last occupation of the migrant worker. Nevertheless, such data would be invaluable to assess the mismatch between the education system and the labor market as well as the actual process of skill acquisition or deskilling which occurs during migration. In addition, data on job site do not record the actual city where the worker will be employed, but simply the countryof employment, making it difficult to draw a reliable map of the distribution of Filipinos abroad, particularly useful in case of emergency. A final source of information on migration is derived from the embarkation and disembarkation cards filled out at the airport. The new edition of such cards contains information fields for a passenger who is a migrant worker. Also, such data are currently computerized and could provide information to be cross checked with other sources, as well as information on return migration. Obviously, there is little possibility to determine the accuracy of information entered in the cards. Processing of data In addition to limitations in the data collection process, there are limitations in the processing of data. In the transition period between manual processing and computerization, some idiosyncrasies emerged, related in particular to limitations of the computer systems utilized and to the rationalization
DATA ON INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION FROM THE PHILIPPINES 593 of entering data. Specifically, the summary report of occupations proved difficult, because of the detailed coding of occupations which could not be re-conduced to the general occupational categories. However, since 1992 the methodology has improved and occupation data are now available for the newly hired migrants. Still missing are data on re-hired migrants, as well as variables such as the date and place of birth, which could help in the understanding of the profile of OCWs. Interpretation of data The interpretation of data requires understanding of the terms utilized. Migrant workers are normally divided into new hires and re-hires. The glossary of terms provided by the POEA defines a new hire as a landbased worker being contracted for overseas employment for the first time by a foreign employer through a duly licensed placement agency. However, figures are not based on the names of persons, but on contracts processed through the POEA. Therefore, a new hire refers to a new contract, not necessarily a person who has never being abroad as a contract worker. Therefore, it is very difficult to determine the number of Filipinos who had a migrant worker experience. Because of the circular nature of contract labor migration, the same person might have gone abroad several times, under different work contracts. Recommendations Good policies require at least good data. The size of the annual outflow of labor force from the Philippines makes such task a difficult one. However, data processing has become a much more manageable task in recent years, thanks in particular to computerization. If initial difficulties were encountered in the transition process, such difficulties are no longer acceptable. Improvement must be sought in three areas: Improvement in data collection, particular through some refinement of the information sheet. Improvement in data encoding. Often information becomes difficult to be retrieved because of faulty encoding. Specific care should be devoted in the encoding of occupation. Also, appropriate field separation in the address of the migrants could make the generation of geographical distribution of the origin of migrants very easy. Improvement in access to data, safeguarding the confidentiality of the information.
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