Due to the cheaper labor costs in the Philippines, it is considered as a preferred business location for call centers and other business process outsourcing companies all over the world. In fact, since year 2000, the call center industry has been growing very fast in the Philippines, mirroring the global trend in the growth of contact centers all over the world.



The Board of Investments of the Philippines has put the growth rate of the call center sector to 100 percent per year since the year 2000. According to the Asian Call Center Review, in the year 2003, the Philipppines had 72 call centers, which was greater than the number in India during that time.

Right now, around 250,000 people are working in BPO companies all over the Philippines. Although the concentration of call center offices are in Metro Manila, the trend is now spilling over to major cities all over the country such as Davao, Cebu, and Baguio. The cost of labor in the cities in the provinces is even cheaper compared to that in Metro Manila because of lower standards of living. As such, when call centers are located in these cities, BPO companies are able to derive more cost savings.

The revenues generated by the call centers in the Philippines in the year 2006 are estimated to be at around 3.8 billion US dollars. This shows a tremendous growth compared to 24 million US dollars in the year 2000. The government of the Philippines is expecting to target half of the world market share in call center services by the end of 2008. As such, the government is stimulating investments in the call center sector, thereby providing every support it can give just so the industry will become more dynamic and responsive to the changing needs of the market. The support of the government to this industry is crucial as it contributes 12 percent of the total Gross National Product, thus helping the county sustain its economic development goals and financial targets year after year.

This boom in the call center industry is powered by the good English skills of Filipinos. Most of the employees working at call centers are usually fresh from college. Through the call centers, young professionals in the Philippines can start developing their careers and contribute to the development of the Philippines. The industry helps the country curb its unemployment rate while young professionals find a way for them to achieve upward mobility.

The call center industry is indeed a very dynamic sector in the economy of the Philippines. Not only that, because of the proven effectiveness of these call centers and the customer service skills of Filipinos born out of their hospitality, it is expected that the industry will grow in the next few years. Most probably, by the year 2010, the revenues generated from the industry shall have reached 12 billion US dollars with a million Filipinos working for call centers across the nation. Since the skills of Filipinos in ICT, including their English skills, are still one of the best all over the world, this trend in the industry will continue unabated in the next few years.