To provide essential information on overseas Filipinos, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) renewed the clearance for the conduct of the 2020 Survey on Overseas Filipinos (SOF) which will be conducted as rider survey to the October 2020 round of the Labor Force Survey.

The SOF aims to obtain national estimates on the number of overseas Filipinos including overseas workers and their socio-economic characteristics and to provide estimates on the amount of cash and in kind transfer received by the families and mode of remittance.

About 5,000 individuals and 45,000 households will be interviewed for the SOF. The survey will utilize a total of Php 132,500.00.

Some of the results from the 2019 SOF, which covered the period April to September 2019, are as follows:

• The number of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) at any time during the reference period was estimated at 2.2 million. Overseas Contract Workers (OCWs) or those with existing work contracts comprised 96.8 percent of the total number of OFWs during the said period.
• Region IV-A (CALABARZON) has the largest number of OFWs with 20.7 percent of the total number of OFWs while MIMAROPA recorded the least proportion of OFWs with 1.5 percent.
• The proportion of female OFWs (56.0 percent) was higher than male OFWs (44.0 percent). On the other hand, the largest proportion of OFWs belonged to the age group 30 to 34 years old comprising 22.6 percent of all OFWs, followed by those aged 25 to 29 years old with 20.7 percent.
• Saudi Arabia continued to be the most preferred destination of OFWs (22.4 percent). Other popular destinations were United Arab Emirates (13.2 percent), Hong Kong (7.5 percent) and Taiwan (6.7 percent).
• The total remittance sent by OFWs during the period April to September 2019 was estimated at Php 211.9 billion. These remittances included cash sent home (Php 157.9 billion), cash brought home (Php 46.7 billion), and remittances in kind (Php 7.3 billion).

The SOF was reviewed and cleared for conduct under the Statistical Survey Review and Clearance System (SSRCS), a mechanism being implemented by the PSA by virtue of Rule 28 of Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of Republic Act (RA) No. 10625 to:

• ensure sound design for data collection,
• minimize the burden placed upon respondents,
• effect economy in statistical data collection,
• eliminate unnecessary duplication of statistical data collection efforts, and
• achieve better coordination of government statistical activities.

In line with this, the PSA enjoins the public to support the said statistical activities.

For further information on SSRCS, please contact the Statistical Standards Division (SSD) of the Standards Service (SS) with telephone numbers (02) 8376-1928 and (02) 8376-1931, and email address ssd.staff@psa.gov.ph and ssdss.staff@gmail.com.

DENNIS S. MAPA, Ph.D.
Undersecretary
National Statistician and Civil Registrar General

See more at the Statistical Survey Review and Clearance System (SSRCS) landing page.