OFW families big spenders on household needs

Beneficiaries of dollar remittances sent by overseas Filipino workers spend the bulk of the funds they receive on household needs, leaving only a small fraction for savings or investments, a survey from media research firm Nielsen revealed.

In a briefing, Nielsen officials said that about 96 percent of OFW remittance recipients spend their money on food, utility bills, home rental and education.

Only 17 percent of those polled said they had allocated funds for savings or investments, the study showed. Those who did said that they had set aside money in savings accounts in banks, “invested” in household appliances, bought insurance policies, acquired real estate or vehicles, started a business or bought lotto tickets. About 2 percent of the respondents said they had allocated funds to repay loans.

The results were contained in Nielsen’s OFW Beneficiaries survey culled from interviews with 1,316 households from July 2010 to July 2011. It was conducted in 22 cities throughout the country with respondents being remittance beneficiaries who were 18 years old and above from all social classes.

Despite the low savings rate, the media research firm said OFW families had reported improved qualities of life in recent years because of the funds sent home by family breadwinners.

Since the survey was launched in 2007, Nielsen said respondents who classified themselves in the D and E socio-economic strata had dropped from 66 percent to only 48 percent this year.

The bulk of those who “left” this level moved up to the lower C stratum, which expanded from 23 percent of the population in 2007 to 39 percent in 2011.

The upper C stratum expanded marginally (from 7 percent in 2007 to 8 percent in 2011) as did the AB class (from 4 percent in 2007 to 5 percent in 2011).

Nielsen noted that the number of OFWs deployed overseas continued to grow despite the political instability in the Middle East and the downturn in the global economy in recent years.

About 1.4 million Filipinos left for work overseas last year, government records showed.

Similarly, the value of OFW remittances continued to rise during this period, with expatriate Filipinos sending home $18.7 billion in 2010. In the first seven months of 2011, remittances stood at $11.3 billion.

The survey also revealed that remittance beneficiaries were more exposed to the media and were easier targets for advertisers.