Moving people to deliver services: Issues and prospects of mode 4 of the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) between the Philippines and South Korea

• Main Author: Jeong, Luz Suplico
• Format: text
• Published: Animo Repository 2010
• Subjects: Foreign workers, Filipino—Korea (South); Foreign workers, Korean—Philippines; Philippines—Foreign relations—Korea (South); Korea (South)—Foreign relations—Philippines; Work, Economy and Organizations
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/faculty_research/6730
• Institution: De La Salle University

The Philippines, or Southeast Asia in general, is a highly competitive supplier of Mode 4 services (Tullao and Cortez, 2005). Mode 4 suppliers can be self-employed or employed by a service provider and sent abroad to supply a service on a temporary basis. In practice, Mode 4 services involve high or low-skilled migrant workers temporarily supplying services in countries other than their own country of origin, and transferring the proceeds to their home country through remittances. Considering South Korea's aging population and low fertility rates and teh Philippines' excess labor supply, Mode 4 between the Philippines and South Korea can be enhanced to meet the needs of these two countries. Issues that need to be addressed should cover the effect of overseas employment on the host and home countries' economies, its role on facilitating trade, concerns for the migration and the impact on the migrants' familites and communities. Generally, there is a positive outlook for Mode 4 between the Philippines and South Korea.