- cross-posted to:
- world@lemmy.world
- cross-posted to:
- world@lemmy.world
The Philippines is dealing with a nursing shortage as countries like Canada recruit within its borders. When the nurses leave, it causes a ripple effect on those left behind in the Philippines.
Almost 10% of the entire GDP of the Philippines is the money those overseas workers send home:
https://www.theglobaleconomy.com/Philippines/remittances_percent_GDP/#:~:text=Remittances%20as%20percent%20of%20GDP&text=For%20that%20indicator%2C%20we%20provide,from%202021%20is%209.31%20percent.
You’re not wrong about the fact that we underinvest in training our own population to do this work though.
I genuinely don’t know if remittances justify the brain drain, either economically or morally. Are they really better off sending their most educated people overseas? Do remittances lead to the development of a sustainable long term economy?
I don’t know that it’s better; just pointing out that it is kind of how the country works right now. Around 10% of their entire population works overseas at any given time. And those higher paid workers like nurses can bring a lot of value to their families back home.
Is it right? Is it a good idea? I can’t speak to that. But the country has developed an entire administration to deal with it:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overseas_Filipinos#:~:text=This%20number%20constitutes%20about%2011,be%20young%20and%20gender%2Dbalanced.
(I work with a lot of Filipino nurses who have explained some of this mentality to me.)