BPO salaries amount to 14% percent of 2012 PHL govt spending

The business process outsourcing industry is expected to pay out P247 billion or $5.85 billion in salaries from projected revenues of $13 billion this year, House Deputy Majority Leader Roman Romulo said in a statement Wednesday.   The BPO sector salaries would effectively and drive consumer spending demand for goods and services, said Romulo who also sits as vice chair of the House information and communications technology committee.   The Pasig representative compared this year’s BPO salaries with the budget and transfer payments of key government agencies.   “To put the P247 billion into perspective, it is equal to around 14 percent of the national government’s P1.816-trillion spending program this year, and larger than the budgets of the Top Five departments,” Romulo said.   The Department of Education is spending P238.8 billion this year; the  Department of Public Works and Highways, P125.5 billion; the Department of National Defense, P107.9 billion; the Department of the Interior and Local Government, P101.4 billion; and the Department of Agriculture, P54.1 billion.   “BPO firms on average spend around 40 to 45 percent of their revenues to compensate their staff,” noted the representative of the lone district of Pasig.   “This is understandable since the industry is basically adding high-value labor services,” he added.   Citing a “previous survey” by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, Romulo said BPO workers receive on average P383,863 in annual compensation.   A separate 2010 BSP survey noted BPO workers receive P378,824 in annual compensation.   The P247 billion is also 53 percent larger than the P161 billion in combined annual benefits for the members of the Social Security System (SSS), Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) and Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth).   Last year, SSS and GSIS paid P76 billion and P50 billion, respectively, in member benefits and PhilHealth paid P35 billion.   The BPO industry is expected to “rake in up to $27 billion in annual revenues and directly engage some 1.3 million Filipino workers by 2016,” according to the congressman.   Under the original Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPAP) IT-BPO Road Map 2011-2016, the industry is projected to generate $25 billion in revenues by 2016.   With 638,000 employees in 2011, the industry generated $11 billion in revenues, according to the BPAP. — Marc Cayabyab/VS, GMA News