Family ties & remittances

In order to support his wife and daughter, Edgar has left them behind in the Philippines. Now working in Calgary with a temporary visa, he’s made aware of this sacrifice every day.

Edgar is far from being alone. Among the 430,000 Filipinos currently living in Canada, about 40,000 are here on temporary work visas.

According to the United Nations, about 200 million people are currently working outside their country of origin. In 2008 they sent more than US $ 328 billion back to their home communities. This sets a historic record for remittance payments, an increase of 15% over 2007.

However, migrant workers are vulnerable in times of economic crisis, and the World Bank forecasts a 7.3% drop in this year’s foreign remittance payments. It estimates the 2009 total at US $ 304 billion, and depending on the length and severity of the crisis, the figure could go lower, leaving home communities with US $32 billion less than they received in 2008.

Remittances constitute a vital source of income in developing countries, which receive 75% of all international remittance payments.  In the case of the Philippines, remittances from overseas workers injected about $ US 16 billion into the economy in 2008, accounting for about 13% of the country’s GDP. This amount represents more than all direct foreign investment and far outstrips the total received as official international aid.

Facts & Figures

•    Most temporary foreign workers must come to Canada without their families. Visa regulations compel them to prove they can support family members who accompany them, and given that most work for low wages, this is rarely possible.

•    In 2007 the five countries that benefitted most from remittances from overseas workers were: India (US $ 27 billion); China (US $ 25.7 billion); Mexico (US $ 25 billion); The Philippines (US $ 17 billion); and France (US $ 12.5 billion)

•    In the Philippines, remittances increased by about 50% between 2004 and 2007. However, when the combined effect of inflation and currency fluctuation is taken into account, the real increase was more like 3%.

•    The OECD reports that donor nations gave almost $ 104 billion to developing countries in 2006, while overseas workers sent over $200 billion back to their countries of origin.

Sources:
Global Presence: A Compendium of Global Employment Statistics, 2006, Philippine Overseas Emplyment Administration; World Bank; La Presse affaires; Forbes Magazine; House of Commons: Report of the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration: Temporary Foreign Workers and Non-Status Workers