The Philippines has the most sophisticated labour-exporting model in the world; 1.8 million temporary workers were deployed in 2014 alone. While Filipino migrant workers contribute significantly to the national economy with the remittances they send home, this reliance on exporting labour raises an important question: Has the nation’s focus on preparing workers to leave compromised human capital development at home?

In ‘Shortage Amid Surplus: Emigration and Human Capital Development in the Philippines’, author Dovelyn Rannveig Mendoza reviews the impacts of the Philippines’ successful labour export policy on skills development and human capital growth within the country. Following an overview of key migration trends and domestic labour conditions, the author provides some recommendations on workable solutions to build the local talent pool.

This issue in brief is the fifteenth in the series of policy papers by the Migration Policy Institute (MPI) and the International Organization for Migration’s Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific that offer succinct insights on migration issues affecting the Asia-Pacific region today.