Overseas work has become a way of life for Filipinos, the government estimates up to 10 percent of the country's 75 million people are overseas. The migrant workers provide an important source of income for the poor nation, sending almost $6 billion home last year. The social costs of this migration are great; children orphaned by parents working overseas, separated families, and the loss of well-educated Filipinos. The migrants also face difficult working conditions, long hours, low pay, and for many women, sexual harassment.
See "Exporting Workers: Filipinos Count the Cost of an Exodus", Thomas Fuller, International Herald Tribune, August 15, 2001