‘US Is Not The Only BPO Market’

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Filipino business-process outsourcing (BPO) workers facing displacement in case the US Congress passes a bill that keeps American companies from farming out noncore operations overseas, have wider job opportunities because of their sound education and skills in spoken English.

Lawrence Jeff Johnson, International Labor Organization (ILO) director to the Philippines, noted that while there are other countries that have set up outsourcing companies in the country, there is now an increasing number of Philippine BPO players servicing other parts of Asia.

“The Philippines is in a unique position with its widely educated labor force that continues to grow. I don’t believe that US is the only BPO market,” Johnson said in an interview at the launch of ILO-Department of Labor and Employment’s (DOLE) Knowledge Center and the DOLE in Manila.

Instead, Johnson said the Philippine government should use the US legislative measure to refocus on generating jobs for highly skilled Filipino workers working in the BPO, mostly in customer service, that may be initially displaced.

Johnson said the US legislative measure to stop outsourcing is only part of addressing its own financial and economic woes but would not lead to regulating new job markets for Filipinos.

US House Bill 3596, or the “Call Centers and Consumers Protection Bill” encourages American companies to farm out their noncore business within the US, a practice known as “insourcing,” and penalizes those giving jobs overseas.

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