Aside from "Migrant Workers" -- There's another word that the Philippines is now synonymous with, "Call Center Agent."
All the huff and puff on the ills of exporting labor has come down to retaining workers in the Philippines to fill positions as call center agents, customer service representatives, medical transcriptionists, online language tutors, back office processing, etc. Recently, President Aquino III claimed he was able to convince foreign companies to invest in the Philippines, which would lead to more than "US $2 billion worth of investments and 43,000 new jobs for Filipinos."
One of the most appealing things about working in the BPO industry is the higher than usual minimum wage salary that one would receive as an entry-level worker. However, at what costs?
1. Health - Since many of the multinational corporations tailor to customers and clients all over the world, the need to have available service representatives available is high. Hence, many who start off must take on night shift positions. Moreover, personal vices like alcohol, smoking, and coffee become a part of daily health.
2. Class gaps - Call center agencies favor individuals who can speak English fluently and students with at least a Bachelors Degree. Will any of the job availabilities from multi-national corporations benefit the urban and rural poor ? They make up roughly half of the population in the Philippines, which implies that the continued presence and further strengthening of the BPO industry can also lead to furthering the gap between classes.
If the President is seeking ways to expand the BPO industry to the provinces -- does that mean they would be training farmers and fishermen how to work in such an environment? Wouldn't the BPO industry only drive wages of local jobs further down? What if all the fishermen and farmers decided they would rather become a call center agent because the wage was better and they can send their children to school? Who will grow the vegetables and find fish to sell?
However, it has been shown that in areas with numerous BPO companies there have also been small food stalls or food vendors that cater to the food needs of BPO workers. In some way, the presence of the BPO industry has created more demand for more food stalls and as a result - people who may not fit the positions in the industry have found a way to somehow profit from them.
3. (Sorry if this is getting technical hehe last one I promise..well second to the last..I gotta throw in my Georgetown SFS Love) Law of Diminishing Returns - Classic case is India. The Philippines now stands on the precipice of taking India's crown as the Asian country best suited for BPO expansion. Partly because the Philippines has shown to yield more revenues and has provided increased incentives in VAT exemptions and deduction in training expenses. However, similar to India - I believe the Philippines will eventually experience diminishing returns when the BPO industry finds another cheap place to set up their cyborg factories of call center agents and customer service representatives in a small island in the Pacific. I think the Philippines should not be investing in this industry with the belief that it will stick around forever. Both Aquino and Arroyo believes it will.
4. (Last Technical term, I promise) Dependency theory - Just as my International Relations 101 teacher likes to preach, goods and resources from developing countries flow to wealthy countries -- countries like the U.S. would gain a larger profit at the expense of developing countries, like the Philippines. As is with the age-old history of Philippines colonialism - Filipinos are always selling their services to the developed world at a cheap rate. Hence, I find it difficult to see BPO industries as something that would benefit the morale of all Filipinos. Instead, it only perpetuates the Philippines' status as a "developing country"... where the government has so little fate in its own local industries that it would succumb to multi-national investments with the misleading belief that poor people will come out of poverty and the Philippines will prosper.
So this generation of cyborgs is just beginning - mind drained call center agents and customer service representatives - answering calls..solving someone's annoying credit card problems half way across the world...drinking coffee every hour...chain smoking to relieve stress..
By 2020, every Filipino that comes out of college will most likely be programmed to work in the BPO industry because it would yield a higher salary than actually job hunting in whatever they majored in. It's an easy position to get...as long as you can speak English.
However, when the BPO industry leaves and finds a cheaper place to set up shop - what will all the young Filipino cyborgs do then?