Data in Table 2 indicate that between 2007 and 2008, the demand for all occupations increased.
Thus, although the production sector registered a decline, the number of Filipino production
workers deployed in 2008 in fact increased by 8.7 percent compared to 2007. The largest percent
change was in the deployment of service workers.
While Filipino workers are distributed all over the globe, close to nine in 10 Filipinos are
concentrated in 10 destination countries, half of whom are in the Gulf region. As Table 3 shows,
the concentration of Filipino workers in Asian countries may have also contributed in shielding
them from displacement and unemployment as countries in the region were generally less hurt
than western economies.
The pressure to find new labor markets concerned civil society groups which feared that the
protection of migrants’ rights might be sacrificed. Throughout 2009, the government maintained
the deployment ban on five countries – Afghanistan, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Nigeria – due to
security and labor concerns. The ban, though, did not stop Filipinos from seeking work in these
risky destinations.