It’s Saturday night in Manila, but 25-year-old Chris, who just graduated with a master’s degree, is not getting ready to party. His chair at a call center awaits him, so he is hurriedly eating a plate of street food before settling in to attend a flood of phone calls coming from the United States. In a skyscraper located in the modern neighborhood of Makati, Chris will resolve the doubts of clients living on the other side of the Pacific, where the sun is just beginning to rise. He’s been with the company Conentrix, which subcontracts with large financial and technological corporations, for five years. He earns $337 a month.
Philippines, the call‑center capital: Taking a deluge of calls for under $2 an hour
The Asian country is a global leader in customer services, with Western corporations employing young people at salaries well below the cost of living
