Opinion: BPO’s P247-B Payroll Helps Economy in 2012

There’s no doubt about it, the country’s business process outsourcing (BPO) sector is expected to shell out a total of P247 billion in salaries to its

workers this year, boosting the PHLconsumption spending, according to one lawmaker yesterday.

"No matter how we look at it, P247 billion represents a huge amount of money being coursed through commercial banks and the economy every year, thus helping to drive consumption spending," says Pasig Rep. Roman Romulo, husband of Valenzuela Councilor Ms. Shalani Soledad.

The consumption spending will help create recurring demand for goods and services, thus perking up domestic industries, he said.

The P247 billion represents about 40 to 45 percent of the sector’s revenue, projected to hit billion pesos this year.

"To put the P247 billion into perspective, it is equal to around 14 percent of the national government’s P1.816-trillion spending program this year, and larger than the budgets of the top five departments," Romulo said.

A previous survey by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas showed BPO employees on the average receiving P383,863 in their annual compensation.

Romulo said the P247 billion is also around 53 percent greater than the P161 billion pesos in combined annual benefits paid by the Social Security System (SSS), Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) and the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. to their own members. The SSS and GSIS paid P76 billion and P50 billion, respectively, in benefits to their members in 2011, while Philhealth paid P35 billion.

The BPO industry is projected to rake in up to $27 billion in annual revenues and directly engage some 1.3 million Filipino workers by 2016. It posted $11 billion in revenues on a labor force of 638,000 in 2011.

This year, the sector hopes to create 126,000 new jobs and generate $2 billion in extra earnings, according to the Business Processing Association of the Philippines.

The industry encompasses contact center services; medical, legal and other data transcription; animation; software development; engineering design; and digital content. With all these information being bandied about, plus the volume of remittances coming permanently from millions of Filipinos working abroad for the survival and a better lifestyle for their kins and dependents back home, do you still doubt that indeed, the Pinoy abroad is his country’s best foot forward, the Philippines’ pride and hope of the PHL’s economic and social advancement in a world of misery and want.*