More than $15 billion in remittances flowed out of Singapore in 2006.
The amount has been steadily growing, from $9b in 2002, to $11b in 2004 and $12.7b in 2005, says the Monetary Authority of Singapore.
There are more than 500,000 foreign workers here. And it's big business for remittance firms.
Remittance giant Western Union recently opened its largest branch in Asia Pacific at Lucky Plaza. SingPost, which remits through the Western Union, told The New Paper that the amount of remittance grew 67.5 per cent last year, from the year before.
At the other end, remittance is the main source of foreign income for some countries.
The four million Indonesian migrant workers in the Middle East and Asia sent home US$3.4b ($4.9b) last year, earning the second-largest amount of foreign exchange for Indonesia after oil and gas exports.
More than 80 per cent of them are women in low-skilled jobs.
An Asian Development Bank survey released last year found that about a third of Indonesian workers leave to be free from 'poverty' and another third because of 'the lack of employment opportunities in the country'.
Unemployment in Indonesia stands at about 10 per cent.
The Philippines received more than US$13b in remittances last year, more than it earned from any export.
EDUCATION FOR CHILDREN
Workers such as Mrs Indrika send home money that go to the building of homes and the education of children in villages.
Said Mr John Gee, president of Transient Workers Count Too (TWC2), a research and advocacy group for migrant workers here: 'I have met women who were the oldest daughters in big families, and they were asked to go abroad to work to support their siblings through school, until the oldest brother finished his education.
'The boy is seen as more important and the one who continues the family line.
'But nowadays, as communities realise how much women migrant workers can earn, they are given more recognition.
'I was told by a member of a Philippines development organisation that in some communities, they find baby girls now more wanted than boys.'
But sending back such large sums of money sometimes ends in heartbreak.
Said Mr Gee: 'Some women go home and find that their husbands have wasted all the money they sent back and found themselves girlfriends.
'Or, when a young woman goes abroad, she may be giving up her own chances of marriage and having children.
With mothers far away, children can also go astray.
Said Mr Gee: 'Children of migrant workers tend to under-perform at school and get into trouble. There may also be a certain estrangement between a working mother and her children.
But former president of the Association of Employment Agencies Helen Tan said that often, the workers find the sacrifices are worth it.
She said: 'I know of a 47-year-old Filipino who holds a bachelor's degree but has been working as a domestic worker.
'Her husband left her, but the money she sent home enabled her family to build a home, buy land, and see her children and siblings through school.'
This article is first published by The New Paper on Jan 21, 2008.
