The World’s Leading Contact Center Outsourcing Destination

Posted by johnmike on July 14th, 2019

Nowhere are there as many English-speaking call centers as in the Philippines. They make the economy booming. Over the past ten years, a quiet revolution has rearranged the call center industry: the Philippines, a former American colony, has taken the world market leadership, surpassing India that previously leads.

In the Philippines, people speak better English and have a closer connection to American culture. Many Americans have problems understanding English-speaking Indians. But Agnes Ting eats fast food, watches American TV shows, her friends watch the NBA basketball games. English has been spoken in the Philippines since the United States replaced the Spaniards as a colonial power over 100 years ago. When independence came in 1946, English was so well established that it remained the official language alongside Filipino. Added to this is the high standard of education of the population. Eight out of ten employees in the call center in Novaliches have a university degree.

In the Philippines, about 1.3 million people work in an industry called Business Process Outsourcing. They make jobs that have been moved from richer countries: in call centers or in bookkeeping, to movie animation. Over the last decade, the industry grew by 20 to 30 percent a year. Today, it accounts for eight percent of gross domestic product. In two years’, time, the share will be larger than the remittances of Filipino workers from abroad.

One of Four Jobs In The Philippines Is Created In The Call Center Sector

Between 2000 and 2015, Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) grew at an annual rate of 30%, then, at least 15 percent. By the end of 2015, just over half a million people were employed in this area (which includes mainly call centers).

Call centers is the fastest growing industry in the country. There are two main reasons for this: Firstly, there are too few other jobs with comparable income, on the other hand companies in the so-called industrialized countries like the US or Germany are trying to save labor costs (by outsourcing). While a call center agent in the US earns about $ 15 an hour, you often have to pay your colleague in Asia just over an hour.

Philippines has overtaken India as the No. 1 location for call centers

Initially, call centers were set up mainly in India. However, North American customers in particular have complained that they cannot understand the Indian-accent English performed by the Indians. In Philippines, almost all secondary education at colleges and universities exclusively delivered in English. Therefore, the graduates speak mostly fluent English. Moreover, many people are much more familiar with American culture and geography than elsewhere because of their colonial past and neo-colonial present.

Extremely competent and available forces

Highly Skilled and Available Workforce - Outsource to the Philippines

About 94% people in Philippines are educated and able to read. The primary education is also accessible to almost everyone. The University of the Philippines, Ateneo de Manila University, De La Salle University and the University of Santo Tomas are renowned institutions whose students hold international top positions after their studies. Filipinos are creative and expressive in nature and many choose studies such as creative design, multimedia arts, free drawing and animation. There are many schools and institutions that offer excellent education in these creative disciplines.

Because of the traditionally weak economy, it has always been difficult for the Philippines to provide jobs for the hundreds of thousands of job seekers who enter the labor market every year. Consequently, many seek refuge abroad.

The rapid development of the BPO sector in the country is due to the work of Filipinos who would otherwise have had to leave their mother country. It is therefore not difficult for BPO companies to find competent personnel for their clients. This is in sharp contrast to India, where finding and especially retaining employees is a serious problem.