Why Filipinos Choose To Work Abroad?
Why Filipinos Choose To Work Abroad?
Abroad?
Nowadays, there are a lot of
Filipinos leaving the country
everyday to work for abroad. Each
Filipinos who opted to work abroad
have their own reasons why they
prefer to work abroad. Whether
its their first choice or just forced
to leave. Filipinos are becoming
more practical nowadays; some
does not value anymore the spirit
of Patriotism. Why? Because
Filipinos need money the basic
necessity in order to live. Money is
a security blanket to each and
every one in order to live; in order
to meet the daily needs such as
4. Contractual employment
arrangement
The high unemployment rate in the country brings
due advantage to employers who simply hire people
on contractual basis. From mall sales ladies to fast
food servers, the practice is widespread in the
country. This brings a great deal of job insecurity for
those who are employed under such conditions.
Filipinos inherently dont mind receiving basic salary,
as long as there is security of tenure. However, such
type of work arrangement is hard to find for many
sectors, knowing that the supply of workers always
outstrip the demand for their services.
5. Poor benefits
Local employers prefer to contractual employees
because it is easier to let go of them and a labor
loophole in the country no health benefits and
accident insurance coverage necessary. High
Conclusion
There are many other reasons why many Filipinos
want or need to work abroad. Some of these
reasons are personal, others are financial, and there
are also reasons that are only temporal. Although
working abroad is very rewarding, there are also a
number of disadvantages in working in the foreign
lands, such as the loneliness of being away from
your family, discrimination from overseas employers,
and the high cost of living abroad. Finally, this post
doesnt encourage or discourage Filipinos to work
abroad. We only give you the realities, both sad and
rewarding, of what is happening to us Filipinos
locally and abroad.
So how about you, what do you think are the other
reasons why many Filipinos are working abroad?
2. To become successful
There's a social stigma about being able to work
abroad means that you are already a successful
person. Mostly that is true. When established
doctors and lawyers are taking up a new course that
would help them work overseas, you know that
there's definitely something to it than just being an
OFW. Working in "financially powerful" countries
gives the image that you are one of them.
Now here comes the serious part.
3. Better salaries
With Pinoys, there's always the mentality of "the
grass is always greener on the other side". It does
not mean we are greedy sombishes, but we always
want to look for ways to improve our lives, as well as
the lives of our family. Sadly, the money that an
average worker here is extremely low compared to
the amount their OFW counterparts are making. If a
skilled construction worker in the Philippines can find
ways to legally work abroad, they would be earning
ten to fifteen times more, not insurance and benefits.
4. Poor benefits in the country
6. Unemployment rate
When I was little, I wanted what many Filipino children all over the
country wanted. I wanted to be blond, blue-eyed, and white. I thought-if I just wished hard enough and was good
enough, Id wake up on Christmas morning with snow outside my window and freckles across my nose!
More than four centuries under western domination does that to you. I
have sixteen cousins. In a couple of years, there will just be five of us left in the Philippines, the rest will have gone
abroad in search of greener pastures. Its not just an anomaly; its a trend; the Filipino diaspora. Today, about eight
million Filipinos are scattered around the world.
There are those who disapprove of Filipinos who choose to leave. I used to. Maybe this is a natural reaction of
someone who was left behind, smiling for family pictures that get emptier with each succeeding year. Desertion, I
called it. My country is a land that has perpetually fought for the freedom to be itself. Our heroes offered their lives in
the struggle against the Spanish, the Japanese, the Americans. To pack up and deny that identity is tantamount to
spitting on that sacrifice.
Or is it? I dont think so, not anymore. True, there is no denying this phenomenon, aided by the fact that what was
once the other side of the world is now a twelve-hour plane ride away. But this is a borderless world, where no
individual can claim to be purely from where he is now. My mother is of Chinese descent, my father is a quarter
Spanish, and I call myself a pure Filipino-a hybrid of sorts resulting from a combination of cultures.
Each square mile anywhere in the world is made up of people of different ethnicities, with national identities and
individual personalities. Because of this, each square mile is already a microcosm of the world. In as much as this
blessed spot that is England is the world, so is my neighbourhood back home.
Seen this way, the Filipino Diaspora, or any sort of dispersal of
populations, is not as ominous as so many claim. It must be understood. I come from a Third World country, one that
is still trying mightily to get back on its feet after many years of dictatorship. But we shall make it, given more time.
Especially now, when we have thousands of eager young minds who graduate from college every year. They have
skills. They need jobs. We cannot absorb them all.
A borderless world presents a bigger opportunity, yet one that is not so much abandonment but an extension of
identity. Even as we take, we give back. We are the 40,000 skilled nurses who support the UKs National Health
Service. We are the quarter-of-a-million seafarers manning most of the worlds commercial ships. We are your
software engineers in Ireland, your construction workers in the Middle East, your doctors and caregivers in North
America, and, your musical artists in Londons West End.
Nationalism isnt bound by time or place. People from other nations migrate to create new nations, yet still remain
essentially who they are. British society is itself an example of a multi-cultural nation, a melting pot of races, religions,
arts and cultures. We are, indeed, in a borderless world!
Leaving sometimes isnt a matter of choice. Its coming back that is.
The Hobbits of the shire traveled all over Middle-Earth, but they chose to come home, richer in every sense of the
word. We call people like these balikbayans or the returnees-those who followed their dream, yet choose to return
and share their mature talents and good fortune.
In a few years, I may take advantage of whatever opportunities come my way. But I will come home. A borderless
world doesnt preclude the idea of a home. Im a Filipino, and Ill always be one. It isnt about just geography; it isnt
about boundaries. Its about giving back to the country that shaped me.
And thats going to be more important to me than seeing snow outside my windows on a bright Christmas morning.
Mabuhay. and Thank you.