US RECESSION? How has it affected the Philippine economy? 1
The US Census Bureau puts Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) in the US at 2,807,731 in 2005. The US State Department estimates Americans of Filipino ancestry at 4 million.
Wikipedia estimates OFWs worldwide at 10 million (which is about 11% of the Philippine population and about one-third of the Philippine labor force).
In 2007 alone, the Philippine Department of Labor & Employment reported 1,012,954 left the Philippines to find employment abroad. It also reported that OFWs worldwide remitted US$ 14 billion to their families in the Philippines.
Clearly, OFWs and their remittances are a significant slice in the Philippine economic pie.
With the weakening of the US dollar, OFWs have had to remit more Dollars to support the Peso expenses of their families in the Philippines. Three years ago the exchange was PhP 52 to the US$. Today, it is hovering around PhP 41, with a few forecasts indicating that it might go down to PhP 39 within the year.
The average support of OFWs to their Philippine families is PhP 10,000 per month. Three years ago, they only needed to send US$ 192; today they need to put up as much as US$ 244.
With the increase in dollar remittances because of the weakening of the dollar, the US recession (?) has had a positive effect on the Philippine Economy.
