Manila: The high number of unemployed Filipinos, at 12 million in 2013, which grew at 7.3 per cent from last year, could result in higher number of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) this year, but the unemployment rate in developed host countries keeps on rising, sources told Gulf News.

“This could mean trouble. It could affect the growth rate of the country,” said analyst Prospero de Vera, adding that, “Philippines leaders must emphasise the importance of education, inclusive growth, expand the economy and give work to a growing labour force.

“This approach is important to make the Philippines competitive when all 10 member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) unite as a common economy in 2015,” de Vera said.

Among Asean members, the Philippines has the highest unemployment rate, at 7.3 per cent, followed by Indonesia, 6 per cent, according to the International Labour Organisation’s (ILO) Global Employment Trends report published this year.

In the same report, Brunei has 3.7 per cent unemployment rate; Burma, 3.5 per cent; Malaysia, 3.2 per cent; Singapore, 3.1 per cent; Vietnam, 1.9 per cent; Laos, 1.4 per cent; Thailand, 0.8 per cent; and Cambodia, 0.3 per cent, said Minette Rimando of ILO Philippines.

In comparison, Brazil’s unemployment rate for the same period was 6.6 per cent; Canada, 7.1 per cent; and Argentina, 7.3 per cent, the ILO report stated.

Some possible host countries of OFWs, the Great Britain and United States have an unemployment rate of 7.5 per cent, the report added.

In North Africa, Egypt, has 12.7 per cent unemployment rate; and two European countries, Greece and Spain, 27.6 per cent and 27.6 per cent respectively, as per the report.

This report should help the labour department in guiding where OFWs should be posted, said an official of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) which is attached to the labour department.

Some countries which are hosting OFWs in the Middle East and North Africa are also politically unstable, a condition blamed for their respective unemployment rates, said the source who requested anonymity.

Slow growth in developed countries due to economic meltdown that began in 2008 has affected their employment rates.

There are 10 million OFWs worldwide, representing 10 per cent of the 100 million Philippine population.

The OFWs have been sending an average of almost $25 billion to relatives in the Philippines for the past two years, said the Central Bank of the Philippines.