Press Release
February 10, 2010

ANGARA CITES VITAL ROLE OF BPO-IT INDUSTRY
IN RP'S ECONOMIC GROWTH

Senator Edgardo J. Angara, chair of the Congressional Commission on Science & Technology and Engineering (COMSTE), expressed optimism about the future of the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industry in the Philippines.

The BPO industry currently employs 442,164 Filipinos, generating more than $7.2 billion in revenues last year, a 19-percent increase from $6.1 billion in 2008.

"The BPO alone has already cracked the problem of the global migration for jobs and it will continue to be the country's leading industry."

Citing a report that the BPO-IT industry's revenues are hitting $12 billion, Angara said, "The cost-effective telecommunications network and English proficiency of Filipinos are our competitive edge in the ICT industry."

He added, "The government shall continue to invest in this booming industry by providing free trainings and seminars in order for our people to take advantage of these emerging job opportunities."

"This is a very promising age for the Filipinos and we need to make the most of our education to benefit from this age. It will take leadership, guts and vision to reinvent education and achieve its strategic mandate: to prepare our people for the future - a future that is already here."

Voice BPO, or the regular contact center operations, contributed the bulk of 2009 revenues at $5 billion, a 22-percent rise from year-ago figures. Coming in at second place was the back-office or non-voice BPO sector, which chalked up over $1.1 billion in earnings, representing a 35-percent rise from the previous year.

In terms of employment, the call center sector also provided the most jobs last year at 280,000 people, followed by the back-office sector at 86,000, and information technology outsourcing at 35,300.

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