Migrant workers seek homeland opportunities

Overseas Filipino workers are returning to their homeland as the economy of the Philippines grows and the downward pressure on the peso continues to mount.
A report by asia.nikkei.com said more overseas Filipino workers are returning home to take advantage of new opportunities created by economic growth.
The peso traded for 47.51 to the dollar on average in January, its weakest in over six years, largely due to an outflow of foreign funds after the U.S. interest rate hike. The average softened 6.5% on the year, the Philippine central bank said.
Slowing remittances also are dampening demand for the currency. Filipinos are known for their English skills, and they work in a wide range of jobs from seamen to nurses in the U.S., the Middle East and elsewhere. Including those with permanent residency abroad, about 10 million, or 10% of the total population, send money back home to their families. The families, in turn, convert those foreign currencies into the peso.
Some $22.8 billion in remittances were sent to the Philippines through banks in the first 11 months of 2015, a 3.6% increase on the year. The figure had grown at a 6% clip in recent years but seems to be losing steam. Transfers from the U.S., which account for 40% of the total, dipped 2.7% on the year.
For decades, Filipinos went abroad to support their families due to a lack of jobs and industry in the country. Those remittances fueled consumption, and the economy is now expanding quickly by 6% annually, creating more opportunities at home.
In 2014, 1,832,668 Filipinos went to work abroad, about 3,600 fewer than the record marked the year before, the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration said. Recently, people also have used their savings from the Middle East to buy cars to drive for Uber, a ride-hailing service that is now officially part of the government's plan to provide better transportation to its citizens.
The Philippines' population of 100 million is growing by 2% yearly, and many of them would prefer to live and work with their families at home. President Benigno Aquino has announced plans to create more jobs in the country, with a focus on expanding the manufacturing sector including measures to help create a domestic auto industry. Remittances eventually will drop when the Philippines has enough opportunities for its citizens within its borders.
But that cash flow also safeguards the peso from weakening too far, since it means some people are always unloading the dollar to buy the Philippine currency. The country relies on imports, especially for energy, and logs an annual trade deficit of over $10 billion. But the more than $20 billion in remittances lets the government consistently achieve a current-account surplus. Also, the Philippines' foreign reserves have grown, and its sovereign bonds rose to investment grade status in 2013.
It's unlikely that the number of overseas workers or the amount of money they send home will suddenly plummet.
But the more that remittances boost the domestic economy, the more Filipinos will return home, which could curb the very cash flow that has driven economic growth. The peso market could look drastically different when the Philippines can develop the country completely on its own.
In Canada, however, one report by The Inquirer said Overseas Filipino Workers here remain resilient amid economic woes
Five months ago, Elmer Cano, 39, got relief from months of joblessness after receiving a call back from his employer, asking him to return to work. Early this year, he was laid off yet again, a report in the Inquirer said.
The father of two had been waiting seven months when he got the call back from his employer Evraz North America, a pipe manufacturer for oil and gas companies. He has had three layoffs since he worked for the company in 2012.
Cano belonged to the more than 58,000 unemployed in Alberta in 2015. By the end of 2015, Alberta’s unemployment rate had risen to 7 percent, up sharply from 4.7 percent the year before, according to recent data from Statistics Canada. There was also a fall in the number of hours worked, down by 4.3 percent in 2015 compared with 2014.
“It is something you don’t want to get used to,” said Cano. He had sailed through what seems to be a rollercoaster ride employment in the province. Cano only works when business for the company he works for picks up. In between lay-offs and reinstatements, Cano receives employment insurance (EI).
Statistics Canada said there were some 61,300 EI beneficiaries in Alberta in November 2.7 percent up from the month before, or more than double the 30,300 reported in 2014. Edmonton and Calgary have the most beneficiaries.
More job losses are predicted to occur in the first half of 2016 as the oil industry reels from steep price decline.
Temporary foreign workers are also hard-hit by Alberta’s economic woes. Couple this with the projected reduction of about 8,400 TFWs in the province this year as a result of changes to the Temporary Foreign Worker program in 2014.
Jeff (not his real name) has been working under the federal government’s Temporary Foreign Worker Program for three years. He spoke on condition of anonymity for fear his employer might find out of his plans to leave the company for a better future in Saskatchewan where he could quickly become a permanent resident.
Tighter regulations on hiring TFWs have discouraged employers from further keeping their TFWs on staff. Jeff, who works for a fast-food chain, said that it is unlikely his employer will pay up the $1,000 fee to re-apply for his LMIA (Labor Market Impact Assessment) when his contract expires this year. LMIA is a permit from the federal government allowing companies to hire a TFW.
“With less people eating out, there is less active business for fast-food chains. And with more locals looking for work, employers would rather hire them than pay the government a hefty $1,000 for every TFW,” he said.
 Beginning July 2016 employers can only have 10 percent TFWs in their staff mix, forcing many TFWs to find work elsewhere or worse, become undocumented when their work permit expires.
As for Babylene Llamas, 37, she is lucky to be working in healthcare field, which remains stable.
Llamas moved to Alberta as an immigrant together with her family in October 2014. A registered nurse who worked for six years in Singapore, she said just the same, lower gas price spelled higher cost of commodities for her family.
The decline in world crude oil price since the summer of 2014 became the main driver in the depreciating value of Canadian loonie. The Canadian loonie hit a new 12-year low on January 16, plummeting to C$0.68 to its U.S. counterpart.
Prices of grocery products are expected to rise as a result of Canadian retail companies spending more on importing fruits and vegetables. Consumer price index in the province was up 1.5 percent at yearend in 2015, with food and shelter having the most increase, according to StatsCanada.
In a separate report, families will be spending an extra C$345 in food products in 2016, found a study by the University of Guelph Food Institute.
And like any other Filipino families abroad, Llamas sends money to her parents in the Philippines.
Money remittance businesses do not seem to share the brunt of the ill effects of the low crude prices.
Marcy Viejon, 72, has been in the money remittance business for over 30 years. She said she saw the Canadian dollar dip to P32.80 to Philippine peso on January 8, the lowest it had been since the economic boom in 2009.
But even with such a low value, she said Filipinos keep sending money out of obligations to their families, never mind the more money they have to spend because of the low Canadian loonie.
Viejon has seen the value of Canadian dollar fluctuate from a meager P15 in 1989 when she started her business, to a high P45 in 2010, to its decreasing value at present.