Term+Project+-+Chapter+1+-+Introduction

=**CHAPTER 1**=

Introduction
"People have been on the move since life began. Migration is neither a new phenomenon, a failure of development nor a substitute for development...individuals move as part of their effor to improve their lives and the lives of their families, to learn new skills, to gain new experiences, to find a job or to flee insecurity, disaster or famine. MIgration is an economic, social and political process that affects those who move, those who stay behind and the places where they go" (Department for International Development (DFID), 2007). With the advent of globalization, labor migration is very common. Instead of just looking for opportunities locally, people are now looking if foreign nations can offer something better for their families and themselves.

In Asia, the Philippines is the major supplier of labor migrants to over 100 countries and the leading female migrant sending country along with Indonesia. More than 8 million (10%) out of the 85 million Filipinos are working or living abroad (Over the recent years, it has been apparent that there has been an increase in the migration of skilled persons.

Initially, movement of highly skilled Filipino professionals was a private initiative among workers but during the 1970s the Philippines experienced a surge in the number of migrations of workers. According to Alburo and Abella (2002) this began with a demand for contract workers in the middle east and the Philippine government began an institutionalized management of temporary contract worker migration. With 36,035 workers leaving on contract work in 1975 rising to 214,590 workers in the 1980s. Since the 1970s the Philippines has been experiencing brain drain due to the migration of highly skilled professionals such as engineers, physicians, teachers, and others from the country. Through the following decades demand for highly skilled professionals increased and demand for different kinds of professionals also increased.

The movement of workers from the Philippines to other countries bring about both rewards and consequences. Migration allows workers to find better opportunities abroad and enables them to earn a better salary. It allows overseas workers to send their relatives to school, encourage relatives to invest in business ventures, and allows development through remittances. On the other hand, the migration of workers induces what we call a 'brain drain' or the exodus of highly skilled workers, professionals, or intellects all of whom are seeking a better life abroad.

Authors have come up with several reasons for the 'brain drain' in the Philippines. Some consider it as an effect of rapid population growth, the lack of opportunities in the country, and/or political instability. According to Alburo and Abella (2002) the problem lies in that this demand is largely met by developing countries, triggering and exodus of their skilled personnel. A large outflow of skilled persons poses the threat of a 'brain drain', which can adversely impact growth and development in a country. Some may think that brain drain is mostly a result of external factors influencing people to migrate because of opportunities in foreign lands but the Philippine government has supported the international export of temporary labour as an explicit and important part of its economic development (DFID, 2007). As we may see, this complex situation is affected by a number of factors both exogenous and endogenous in nature, therefore it is the objective of this study to determine the pattern or behavior and determine the factors influencing the migration of highly skilled Filipino workers through system dynamics.