WASHINGTON — The home countries of international labor migrants can play a major role in protecting temporary workers, says a new report from the Migration Policy Institute. Protecting Overseas Workers: Lessons and Cautions from the Philippines details how a welfare fund financed by migrants has placed a safety net under overseas workers from the Philippines, home to the largest organized labor-export program in the world.
As temporary worker programs and the treatment of migrant workers gain increased international attention, both the accomplishments and the limitations of the Philippines’ experience offer guidance for policymakers in other countries seeking to expand temporary migration programs.
The report, by Dovelyn Agunias of MPI and Neil Ruiz of the Brookings Institution, evaluates the management of the world’s largest worker welfare fund, the Philippines’ Overseas Workers Welfare Administration. As of December 2006, nearly a quarter of the Philippines’ labor force — almost 9 percent of the population — lived in more than 190 countries. Remittances sent from Filipino migrants in 2006 reached US$12.8 billion and are projected to approach the US$15 billion mark in 2007.
OWWA, a quasi-governmental organization funded by $25 membership fees from workers or, more rarely, their employers, is designed to protect and provide services for migrant workers.
As of May 2007, OWWA had over 1 million members, representing 28 percent of the estimated 3.8 million Filipinos who worked abroad legally on temporary contracts. [Read more]
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