ABSTRACT
Remittances from overseas are one of the most important sources of income in the Philippines. The Survey of Overseas Filipinos conducted by the National Statistics Office defines remittances as the amount of cash and in-kind transfers received by families from overseas Filipino workers (OFWs). New Economics of Labor Migration (NELM) theory claims that income inequality is likely to cause more relative deprivation and that a more relatively deprived person is expected to have a higher tendency to migrate. Migration decisions are often decided jointly by the family members left behind and the migrating person. Remittances from a migrating family member form an important component of direct returns to non-migrating family members. Remittances are the third-largest source of income for families in the Philippines, and their proportion to total income continuously increased between 2000 and 2009. Undoubtedly, remittances are thus one of the most powerful tools to reduce poverty in the Philippines.
