Phl has no plans to soften impact of brain drain, study says

MANILA, Philippines - Despite the continued exodus of Filipino skilled workers and professionals, the Philippines has not taken adequate measures to prevent it from affecting the country’s over-all economic development, a study of the University of the Philippines (UP) showed.

The study, “Migration of Skills, Talents and Expertise: Development Challenges for the Philippines”, said that the outward flow of “critical skills, talents and professionals” has been jeopardizing the growth and sustainability of local industries.

According to Dr. Rene Ofreneo of UP-School of Labor and Industrial Relations, other nations in similar situation “have been identifying and strategizing their current and future skills needs in relation to their overall economic development.”

But the Philippines, the study stated, “has not undertaken a similar forward-looking exercise.”

“Such exercise is imperative as there are alarming concerns, specifically in relation to the impact of the skills, talents and professionals (STP) drain or outflow on Philippine-based industries, whether producing for the home or export markets,” the study revealed.

“This means local industry is becoming less and less competitive due to ‘HRD (human resource development) shortages’ in critical areas of business or production performance,” the study showed.

The study revealed that the exodus could “kill” the economy at least in two ways.

“The first is the so-called ‘Dutch disease.’ The Philippines has become dependent on overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) remittances and has stifled or weakened the national drive to build up local industry and agriculture, whose weaknesses and failure to develop were ironically also at the roots of the migration boom,” the study stated.

But such remittances encourage the growth of service industry catering to the consumption requirements of the families of OFWs.

The other way is through the outflow of “mission critical STP.” This pertains to “skills possessed by personnel in charge of making production or business literally run”.