“In 2024, OF remittances amounted to an all-time high of US$38.34 billion. Mainly in the form of direct bank transfers, remittances amounted to 8.7 per cent of GDP in 2024, the highest among the major ASEAN economies (the next two are Cambodia at 6.1 per cent and Vietnam at 3.4 per cent). About 40 per cent of cash remittances came from the US, with the other prominent sources being Singapore and Saudi Arabia.”
“But the contribution of remittances to the Philippine economy has waned over time. Their share of GDP peaked at 12.8 per cent in 2005 and has gradually dropped since then. The growth rate of remittances has also more than halved in the past two decades: from an average of 6.8 per cent in 2006–2010 to just 3.3 per cent in 2022–2025.”
“[…] It can also be argued that remittance inflows tend to justify labour export as a long-standing government policy. This risks locking the economy into a low-productivity equilibrium, where labour migration serves as a pressure valve for weak domestic job creation. Remittances can raise reservation wages and dampen local labour supply in certain sectors, reinforcing structural weaknesses — particularly in agriculture and other labour-intensive activities — unless accompanied by robust domestic investment and industrial or service expansion. In addition, in 2024, nearly half of OFs were in ‘elementary occupations’ such as domestic work.”
https://fulcrum.sg/overseas-filipino-remittances-and-the-philippine-economy-time-for-a-rethink/