ABSTRACT
In the Philippines, the sustained growth of the IT-enabled business process outsourcing(ITES-BPO ) sector has been perceived to fuel the growth of a new middle class that drives private consumption, notably the consumption of non-essential miscellaneous goods and services. This chapter examines how in one smaller city in the Philippines, Iloilo, the expanding service outsourcing sector is leading to the formation of a new middle class and whether workers perceive themselves to be new middle class. The chapter is based on semi-structured interviews with 31 workers and a survey among 554 workers in the ITES-BPO sector in Iloilo carried out in 2013. It further provides an overview of the literature on the service outsourcing sector and how the sector can add to the formation of a new middle class. It then outlines the methodological framework of the research and concentrates on the characteristics of the service outsourcing sector in the Philippines and Iloilo.
