BPO industry’s input on economy rising - NSCB

The contribution of business process outsourcing (BPO) industry in the country's economic output is continuously rising over the years, the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) said. In its comparative analysis for first quarter of 2004 to second quarter of 2007 shows that on the average, the contribution of the BPO industry has increased the country's gross domestic product (GDP) by as much as 0.2 percentage points. In the second quarter of this year, the GDP grew by 7.5 percent, the BPO industry contributed 0.3 percentage points. "Capturing the robust performance of the BPO industry has likewise expanded the growth in Private Services, on the average, by 2.6 percentage points," the NSCB said. In the second quarter, BPO contributed 4.1 percentage points to the 8.6 percent growth in Private Services. In addition, the NSCB said the country’s Exports of Services has increased, on the average, by 6.2 percentage points because of the rise of the BPO industry. In fact, in second quarter, despite the 9.3 percentage points contribution of the BPO industry, Exports of Services contracted by 4.6 percent. In 2005, based on the NSCB survey, the revenue generated by the BPO industry reached $2 billion in 2005, an increase of 48.2 percent from $1.3 billion in 2004 "Contact centers contributed the bulk of total revenue at 49.4 percent in 2005, of which 96.3 percent were from exports (i.e., catering to foreign clients)," the NSCB said. In 2005, the industry employed 138,000 people, most of them in contact centers. Average monthly compensation in 2005 per employee ranged from P 12,760 in medical transcription, to P30,937 in software develop. According to the projections of Board of Investment-Commission on Information Communication and Technology- Business Processing Association of the Phils., the BPO industry is expected to contribute more to the economy, as revenues will skyrocket to $12.2 billion in 2010 from $1.5 billion in 2004. Total workforce for the industry is also expected to reach 1.1 million in the same year, translating to 982,300 new jobs generated from only 100,500 in 2004, the NSCB, said. - GMANews.TV