Roughly two-thirds of Filipinos already working overseas point to one motivation above all others: the chance to earn more than they could at home. A Boston Consulting Group report published June 18 placed that figure at 69%, the leading answer among 1,337 overseas Filipino workers surveyed in February 2026 across the United States, Asia, the Middle East and the United Kingdom.
Beyond pay, respondents listed a mix of personal and family-driven motivations. Improving their standard of living was cited by 57%, while 41% pointed to covering family costs and schooling for their children. Another 31% sought personal growth or independence, and 30% said a shortage of work at home left them with few alternatives.
That last figure, though the lowest of the five, carried particular weight in BCG’s reading. The firm noted that even ranking last, the scarcity of local jobs still drove one in three respondents abroad, a sign that migration is rooted in necessity for a sizeable share of workers. As the report put it, “For these OFWs, leaving was less a choice than a conclusion, the path that remained when the options at home ran out.”
The household stakes are considerable. Nearly half of those surveyed, 49%, served as their family’s main earner and accounted for at least 66% of household income. About nine in 10 OFW households leaned on remittances to cover everyday expenses. BCG framed overseas employment as a route many families take to escape financial precarity and reach the relative security of the middle class.
A parallel picture emerged from within the Philippines. OCTA Research, polling 1,200 adults between March 19 and 25, found 57% open to relocating abroad. Among that group, 67% named better job prospects as a draw, followed by 61% citing higher pay and 58% pointing to an improved quality of life. The two studies questioned different populations and used separate methods, yet they converged on the same trio of factors steering Filipinos toward the exit: work, wages and living standards.
Conditions in the domestic labor market help explain the pull. The Philippine Statistics Authority’s most recent labor force survey recorded unemployment climbing to 4.7% in April 2026, up from 4.1% the previous April. Underemployment, which captures those holding jobs but still seeking more hours or additional work to boost their earnings, edged up to 15.2% from 14.6% a year earlier.
IBON Foundation read those numbers as evidence of a deeper shortfall. The think tank’s executive director, Sonny Africa, said the data described “an economy that is still not creating enough work, where available jobs do not provide enough income for families’ basic needs, and where worsening global conditions are further squeezing Filipino families.”
The gap between earnings and the cost of living sharpens the point. IBON has estimated that a family of five needs around P1,312 daily to live decently, against a national average minimum wage of just P510. That disparity has kept wage demands alive: at a June 18 hearing of the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board in Metro Manila, labor groups pressed for a P200 addition to the capital region’s P695 daily minimum, pointing to inflation and steadily rising living costs as justification.
