BPO’s major role in 2011 Philippine Economic Growth

According to the latest World Bank Quarterly Report for the Philippines, the rapidly rising BPO sector in the country will be able to build its natural comparative advantages for Philippine economic status. These advantages are technology-savvy young labor force, cost-competitive platform built around an English-speaking talent pool, a favorable economic zone environment and readily available telecommunication infrastructure.

The Philippines is a net service exporter, and the BPO sector has been contributing a lot to the country’s balance of payments (BOP) working hand-in-hand with the remittance inflows of overseas Filipino workers (OFW). BPO services are recorded in computer information, communications, and miscellaneous business, technical and professional services of the BOP. The Philippines has become an intensive user of information technology (IT), human capital and communications and has bucked the downward trend of the global financial crisis.

The Business Process Association of the Philippines (BPAP) said that the outsourcing industry alone has employed more than 235,000 individuals while earning $3.3 billion in revenues. The BPO industry alone has captured nearly five percent 5% of the overall market share in the global market. The BPO sector has gained comparative advantage in world BPO services with almost a hundred percent of the sector’s production.

BPAP estimates that the outsourcing will grow by roughly 40-percent a year from 2006 and the Philippine BPO sector can grab up to 10-percent share of the overall global market. According to them, it can also earn revenues worth $13 billion and employ a million people directly.

“In 2008, a total of 444,810 college graduates entered the market with skills appropriate for the BPO sector: 125,000 students from the medical and science-related field, some 100,000 from business, accounting and related fields and another 100,000 from the IT, engineering and architecture fields.”- World Bank

Export destination of the BPO industry has become more diversified. The BPO sector in the Philippines started in the 1970s with outsourcing of data entry and accounting services. It exponentially grew in animation and software development in 1980s. Since then, the outsourcing industry has expanded to back-office functions, legal transcription, medical, and contact centers. Now, the country has become a leader in the field of contact center outsourcing. –http://thebestcallcenters.com/philippine-call-center-outsourcing/bpo%E2%80%99s-major-role-in-2011-philippine-economic-growth