Committee: Department of Labor and Employment

Topic: Brain Drain

Country: Philippines

The Philippines has been experiencing a “brain drain” phenomenon with migration of
highly skilled physicians, teachers, seamen, mechanics, engineers and others from the country.
Brain drain is a situation in which many educated or professional people leave a particular place
or profession and move to another that gives them better pay or living conditions. Brain drain is
also referred to as human capital flight. It has its own negative impact on the sending countries
economic prospects and competitiveness. It reduces the number of dynamic and creative people
who can contribute to the development of their country. In the past decades, accelerated
advances in information technology and the growth of the information communication industry
triggered new waves of skilled labor migration abroad consisting of electronic engineers,
computer programmers, designers and allied skills workers. There’s a lack of opportunity to
promising graduates. Many people look for a better job in other countries with a high salary this
is because the salary rate in the Philippines is not enough to accommodate all the needs of a
family. The graduates of the different field of study are having an obstacle in finding a job or
occupation in which they are best suited that’s why the unemployment rate is still increasing in
our country. The unemployment rate is a measure of the number of people who are jobless or
looking for a job.

The Department of labor and Employment has creating a job fair for some people who
would like to work in some companies. They offer Due to widening unemployment, the
Philippine government has resorted to a Labor Export Policy (LEP) to: defuse social tension by
exporting its vast numbers of unemployed and underemployed people abroad, and to rake in the
much needed dollar remittances to prop up a falling peso, pay balance of trade deficits and
onerous foreign loans.

According to ABS CBN NEWS as some Filipinos continue to seek greener pastures
abroad, it may seem as if the decades-long "brain drain" shows no signs of stopping. But there's
still hope for the Philippines in reversing "brain drain". In its latest Economic Insight report,
Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) noted that ASEAN
economies are benefiting from growing populations, but some, particularly the Philippines and
Malaysia, are facing difficulty in "brain drain." "In terms of labor force, the Philippines are faced
with a brain drain issue, which is depriving the labor pool of much of its greatest talent. This has
been a problem for a while now, with the country having lost an estimated 10 percent of its
population to work abroad, including many highly qualified professionals," Charles Davis,
ICAEW economic advisor and Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) director,
said. In 2013, the Philippines deployed around 1.8 million workers. Most of the OFWs were
deployed to Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and other Middle East
countries. The Philippine economy benefits from remittances the overseas Filipino workers send
back home, but Davis noted "most of the productivity gains accrue to the developed economies
in which these emigrants live."

According to Philippine Daily Inquirer the brain drain has become a bigger problem in
the last 12 years, as the yearly exodus of people trained in science and technology (S&T) grew
by about two and a half times from 1998 to 2009. Based on the SEI-DOST study, S&T
manpower includes physicists, chemists, mathematicians, statisticians, computing professionals,
engineers, life science professionals, health professionals (except nurses), and nurses and
midwives. The study found that nurses and midwives represented the biggest group with an
average of 9,348 deployed yearly, or 60 percent of the total S&T average of 15,555. Engineers
comprised the second-biggest group, averaging 4,117 yearly, or 26 percent of the total outflow of
S&T manpower. Other health professionals including medical doctors accounted for the third-
largest group with an average of 1,426 yearly, or 9.2 percent of the lot.

The government should have more job offers that can help people in our country. It can
decrease the number of unemployed person. They should use an alternative way to reduce brain
drain. Encourage the Filipino people to work in our country. There’s a lack of opportunities to
promising graduates. It is need to educate them how will be productive. The negative impact of
the brain drain must be controlled. The government need to encourage overseas Filipino workers
(OFW) to return home, the Philippines must make sure their sector of expertise is available. The
infrastructure develop can help the Philippines solve the brain drain issue by increasing
productivity and spurring new industries to sprout in new areas.
 Position Paper

On

Brain Drain

Submitted by:

Alexis C. Calderon

March 16, 2016