Philippines Takes the Lead in Overseas Call Center Jobs

The Philippines has overtaken India as the call center capital of the world, with much of that business aimed toward supporting financial services and technology, USA Today reports.

According to USA Today's article, there are now 350,000 Filipino call center jobs to India's 330,000, with many of those centers providing support for financial services companies like JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup, who rely on the Philippines for customer calls or back-office work. Those numbers will only grow, the article says:

The (Contact Center Association of the Philippines) estimates that Philippines call centers produced $6.3 billion in revenue last year, and that the figure will grow 15% to 20% a year as multinationals increasingly set up shop here. By comparison, India's call centers likely generated $5.6 billion to $5.9 billion in revenue last year, according to Dallas-based advisory firm Everest Group.

The country claims English as one of its official languages, and has embraced American culture, a fact that is appealing to U.S. businesses. Bank Systems & Technology also named the Philippines one of the Five hot outsourcing markets outside of India in an article last year, not only because of its English language capabilities, but also because of its relative geopolitical stability and access to an educated workforce.