Statistics say that more than 2 out of 10 Filipinos are living abroad. An estimated Eleven Million of those are what we know as “OFWs” or Overseas Filipino Workers. Every year, more and more Filipinos seek work abroad. They come from all walks of life and all kinds of professions, doctors, nurses, accountants, IT professionals, engineers & architects, entertainers, technicians, teachers, military servicemen, students, and domestic helpers, all working abroad in search for a better life for themselves and their families. Overseas Filipino Workers are considered as the country’s new heroes, or “Bagong bayani” since they help build the Philippine economy. They sent more than $ 14 Billion dollars back to the Philippines for 2007 alone. As more Filipinos are leaving for abroad, this figure is expected to rise higher. The Philippines is the fourth largest recipient of foreign remittances (India being first followed by China and Mexico) Foreign remittances by OFW’s represents 13.5% … [Read more...]
Financial literacy for OFWs
Janice, an Overseas Filipino Worker (OFW) regularly sends an average of P 30,000.00 to P 40,000.00 (Almost a $1,000.00 U.S) a month to support her husband and two children. After several years of working abroad she comes home expecting a loving husband and two healthy children to greet her. Instead she finds her household in disarray, her children not in school for more than a year; her husband living with another woman, no food in the refrigerator, debts piled up at the neighborhood store, no money in the bank and worst their house is about to be foreclosed by the bank. The scenario may be exaggerated and may even be fictional but this kind of situation is happening to thousands of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs). The Philippines is one of the largest foreign workers sending country. Statistics show that 1 out of 10 Filipinos are working abroad. Sadly, some OFWs and their families end up worse then what they were before financially then when they left to work abroad. A study … [Read more...]