China has offered billions in investment aid to its developing neighbor the Philippines over the past 18 months. It’s paying for railways and weapons to resist rebels, among other things. The two sides are talking about joint undersea oil exploration, too.
But it’s the latest gambit in bilateral relations, which have bloomed under Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte despite a continuing maritime sovereignty dispute, that could really foster warmth between the two Asian nations.
The Philippines and China signed an agreement in late April that will allow 300,000 Filipinos travel to China for work. Those workers will include 100,000 English-language teachers, according to this news report.
Promising new labor market
Filipinos depend heavily on work offshore, such as engineering jobs in Saudi Arabia and food service positions in Canada, to earn more money than what employers can offer in the Philippines.
About 2.3 million Overseas Filipino Workers, often dubbed OFWs for short, were working abroad last year. They contributed $28.1 billion last year to the Philippine economy last year, up 7.1% over the 2016 amount, according to this Philippine news report.
Asian markets such as Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea attract many OFWs for their closeness to home in East Asia. Working in China would appeals to these workers for the same reason. Access to China is sure to help Filipinos find work, says Jonathan Ravelas, chief market strategist with Banco de Oro UniBank in Metro Manila. Their remittances, he adds, contribute to the Philippine economy.
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Teaching is a more appealing career option than the tough factory work Filipinos often do in Taiwan, for example, or the food service jobs they take in Canada. That means more money for hopeful family members back home.
China could potentially pay teachers $500 to $1,000 per month, per this website, though it does not say the workers being allowed there now would earn any set amount. Teachers might take home $1,200 per month, this news report says, citing a Philippine official. China also needs musicians and household helpers, it says.
“I think the salary offer is pretty good, probably higher than what they would offer in other countries,” says Eduardo Araral, associate professor in the National University of Singapore’s public policy school.
The demand is palpable. School-aged children in China often study English outside regular class hours, while adults sometimes take night or evening classes to advance their careers. Filipinos, though often more comfortable speaking Tagalog or a local dialect such as Cebuano, grow up with English as an official language used widely by the mass media and taught in schools.
Retreat from Kuwait
Middle Eastern countries offer Filipinos some of their best salaries in the world, according to this report. Saudi Arabia is also the biggest OFW employer for the Philippines, with more than 1 million workers. But report after report says employers abuse or mistreat workers to a point where some have tried to run away.
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