As artificial intelligence and robotics accelerate globally, serious threats are posed against the overseas Filipino worker and business process outsourcing sectors. According to columnist Boo Chanco, automation could soon decimate these twin pillars of the economy, and institutional accountability must be demanded from the Department of Education and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority.
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Automation threatens BPO and overseas workers
If the country fails to adapt, a massive humanitarian crisis would be experienced, unless the government shifts from its reliance on exporting raw human labor. Statements were issued by the authority announcing that overseas deployments would be reduced tomorrow due to the incoming technological shift. Recently, it was reported that China constructed a 157.79km stretch of the Beijing-Hong Kong-Macao Expressway using fully autonomous machines. The project utilized a 20m unmanned paver, six double-drum rollers and three rubber-wheel rollers. Operations were guided by AI algorithms and the Beidou satellite system, which ultimately result to unprecedented precision and lower labor costs.
Fears were raised regarding the BPO sector as hedge funds bet against outsourcing companies providing call centers, telemarketing and customer service. Shares of Paris-listed Teleperformance and Nasdaq-listed TTEC Holdings were targeted for short selling. Selling human time for repetitive tasks is highly vulnerable to AI disruption , e.g., automated answering services taking over agent roles. The local BPO industry must move up the value chain to cope up with these global shifts.
Failing education and institutional accountability
Warnings were issued by Dr. Karol Mark Yee, executive director of the Second Congressional Commission on Education. It was revealed that ninety percent of local tech-voc trainings remain stuck in basic certificates like driving and baking. Because the local system fails to teach specialized skills, the workforce cannot compete within the region.
Since the administration of former president Ferdinand Marcos Sr., labor migration has served as a relief valve for the failures of the educational system. However, various equipments and technologies , i.e., autonomous site scanners and 3D printing, are replacing manual labor from Monday to Friday across global markets.
The need for systemic modernization
The Middle East construction market is now actively pursuing automation, with Dubai aiming to hit seventy percent construction automation. Domestic helpers are also threatened, as multi-purpose domestic robots enter Gulf households. Total annual cash remittances are historically at $34 to $38 billion, with low-skill deployments contributing roughly $7 to $8 billion.
While professionals and healthcare workers fuel the economy, low-skilled workers represent forty to forty-four percent of the deployed population. Steps are being taken to address this, but the department and the authority must implement massive re-skilling programs affecting over four hundred fifty thousand workers. Otherwise, the failure to modernize would result to a devastating unemployment crisis.
