The recruitment industry in the Philippines: government-business relations in the overseas employment program

Abstract

No major country in the world is as reliant on migrant remittance flows as is the Philippines, with some 8-11 million workers overseas sending $17 billion back home each year. As important as these flows are to the Philippine economy, the export of labor has never been part of a coherent development strategy. At least 13 major government agencies are involved in matters pertaining to overseas Filipino workers, but the result is more of a patchwork of overlapping roles than a systematic regulatory regime. My thesis examines relations between these agencies and the approximately 1,500 recruitment agencies that are the key private-sector actors in facilitating overseas migration from the Philippines. Despite the importance of these agencies, no previous research has examined their role, their associational ties, or the nature of their relations with a range of government actors. Theoretically, my research contributes to debates within political economy on what roles the private sector and government have in pursuing and achieving national economic development objectives. Beyond this primary contribution, my research also provides insights into debates on alternative development strategies in developing states, the politics of international labor migration, and bilateral labor relations between states. The research for my thesis was gathered primarily across five months of fieldwork in the Philippines. While there, I was able to utilize multiple methods of investigation including interviews with politicians, bureaucrats, NGOs, business leaders, and international organizations as well as significant archival research. My thesis topic intersects with many research areas, including not only the politics of development and government-business relations but also state-society relations, structures of governance, foreign policy making, and international diplomacy.