The World Bank praised the Philippines for supporting its migrant workers through policies that made their labor migration at ease.
In their report titled “Migrating to Opportunity: Overcoming Barriers to Labor Mobility in Southeast Asia,” World Bank said the country “has a highly developed support system for migrant workers that is a model for other sending countries”.
“To build on this status, the country should continue to evaluate and improve its migration management system, including oversight of recruitment agencies, programs for returned migrants, and data sharing and interoperability.
“The highly-developed support system for migrant labor in the Philippines can serve as a model for other countries,” World Bank said in their report.
Mauro Testaverde, the lead author of the report, praised the country’s effort in playing an important role in their people’s migration in terms of financial support.
He said in a video conference with media reporters that the government match their skilled workers to jobs at a reduced cost so they can go to any countries as far as the Middle East and the United States.
Other ASEAN countries only give lower migration costs to skilled laborers planning to transfer to a neighboring country, Testaverde said.
“The Philippines is not only a significant sender of migrants to the Middle East and the United States, but the origin of about a quarter of the world’s ship crews,” his report said.
World Bank data also showed the remittances from Filipino migrant workers makes up for the 10 percent of the Philippines’ gross domestic product in 2015, making the country among the highest shares in ASEAN.
Source: The Philippine Daily Inquirer
