Reading the news today I found a statistic that surprised and disturbed me. The International Labor Organization (ILO) reported Friday that of the estimated eight million Filipinos employed in foreign countries nearly half or 35% are ages 15 to 24. That really surprised me because my idea of an OFW is someone such as a man working as a seaman or a Filipina nurse, jobs that would require at least a few years of schooling. I know there are many OFW’s in my wife’s family and all of them have had at least two years of college education and some have four year degrees. Not all, but most, at least graduated from high school.

It has me wondering how many of the said 35% are under the age of say 21. Being 21 and above is young, but not too young to move away from home. I would think as you would look through each age you would see that the percentage grows as the age grows. That would make sense but I’m also wondering if there are any OFW’s under the age of 15? What would a 15 or 16 year old do for a living abroad? The only thing I could think of would be illegal things because even in the U.S. any person under the age of 18 is restricted from most jobs and their hours are kept to a minimum by law.

If it is true that minors are working abroad illegally, how are they getting immigration papers? Is it possible that certain parts of the government are looking the other way and permitting recruiting agencies to ship these children abroad? If it is, then there is a real problem and it needs to be looked at by authorities.

Generally when minor children are working they get a lower rate of pay and I would guess that they don’t contribute as much to the $16 billion that was remitted in 2008 from overseas workers. It seems that even though the U.S. economy has been suffering, 2008 was still a good year for OFW’s. When I read things like this it starts that old machine in my head going but since I’m growing older it takes a little more oil to prime it.

I have one more question that I’d like someone to comment on. Question: Since my wife is now a dual citizen of the US-Philippines is she counted as an OFW? I’ll leave you with that!

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