The Philippines' booming outsourcing industry has employed a millionpeople after growing almost tenfold in just over a decade, according tothe industry association.

Widely considered as second onlyafter India, the Philippine outsourcing industry is expected to earn 18billion USD this year, AFP quoted Ppresident Jose Mari Mercado of the ITand Business Process Association Philippines as saying.

He addedthat the country targets 1.3 million employees in this sector by 2016,with its revenues increasing to 25 billion USD.

The businessprocess outsourcing or BPO sector has emerged as a shining star of thePhilippine economy after posting just 1.5 billion USD in revenues with103,500 employees in 2004, figures released by the industry groupshowed.

This has helped provide better-paying jobs to a countrywhere 10 million people, about a tenth of the population, havetravelled overseas to seek employment.

For each person hireddirectly by the industry, about 2.5 additional support jobs are alsogenerated, the association said.

The Philippines isexpanding into more sophisticated outsourced operations such asfinancial services, software design, medical and legal transcription,animation and gaming.

In 2012, the industry accounted for 5.6percent of the country's gross domestic product and the figure couldrise to 7.8 percent by 2016, said Rick Santos, chairman of CBREPhilippines.-VNA