The number of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) who worked abroad from April to September 2000 was estimated at 978 thousand, down by 3.7 percent over the 1,016 thousand in the same period in 1999.

The number of Overseas Filipinos Workers (OFWs) who worked abroad during the period April to September 2002 reached 1.06 million, up by 2.6 percent from 1.03 million a year ago. Of this total, 93.8 percent or 990 thousand were overseas contract workers (OCWs) or those with existing work-contract abroad. Their number also went up by 2.7 percent from 964 thousand in April to September 2001

The 2005 estimate of OFWs is 12.5 percent more than the 1.18 million OFWs estimated for the period April to September 2004. The overseas contract workers (OCWs) or those with existing work-contract comprised 91.6 percent of the total OFWs during the period April to September 2005. Their number went up to about 1.22 million or by 10.7 percent over the estimate for the same months in 2004 (1.10 million).