The minimum wage in the Philippines is staggeringly low. The minimum wage rate in the central region of Luzon will increasing by a mere P24 a day. The Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board announced the new rate. The increase will take effect on Nov. 22.
That’s less than a $1.00 per day Increase in the minimum wage.
The unions are complaining and pointing out that isn’t enough to buy one kilo of government subsidized rice! A shipyard union had asked for P100 a day. Another group asked for an increase of P75 per day.
Wages are very low in the Philippines. Work is hard to come buy and when it is found the pay is
Regions of The Philippines
usually at levels that shock Westerners. Central Luzon has seven provinces. Six of those provinces have set the per day minimum wage at the following amounts:
- P316 for workers in nonagricultural firms with P30 million or more in assets.
- P308.50 in companies with less than P30 million in assets.
- P286 for plantation workers.
- P270 for nonplantation workers.
- P307 for workers in hospitals with 20-bed capacity or more.
- P292 with less than 20-bed capacity.
- P305 in the retail/service sector with 16 or more workers.
- P291 in firms with less than 16 workers and P270 for handicraft workers.
This is for a 12 hour work day.
Pretty complicated breakdown there. Not really surprising. One province in the region has a different minimum wage but I was unable to obtain that information.
One problem is that in the export industry, raising wages raises the price. The US dollar is already doing poorly. That lowers exports from the Philippines to the USA. Raising wages will increase cost and may put companies out of business.
Also inflation has been low for the last year, thus a cost of living increase would be expected to be low. I don’t think I’ll get one at all, again this year as the USA inflation rate is very slow.
With pay for Filipino already so low, many really need to higher increases if they are to have any hope to break free from poverty. It is amazing that so many Filipino have such huge smiles on their face. Like I often say, wealth can be found even where there is deep poverty.
Tagged with: Filipino • Minimum Wage • Philippines
Filed under: Cost of living in the Philippines • Living In The Philippines
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Dear Mr Furguson,
I have been reading your articles and have enjoyed them all. Thank you for your time and effort.
Hi Patrick,
Are you Filipino?
Please call me Rusty.
Thank you for the kind words.
hi rusty.. thanks i found your site.. i am googling some information about the compensation and benefits here in the philippines to present in our class by Monday Nov 22 next week. i wish i have found your site before..
where did you find this information.. i have found some but i don’t usually read a lawyer like writing with words like, whereas.. therefore.. etch.. it’s just boring.. pls send me a short info if you can.. the minimum wage per day and special payments for holiday.. if you have time.. i really enjoy reading your articles cuz it’s not boring to read.. my email is charliedeeya@yahoo.com
or site where you found this information.. thanks and have a nice day here in the Philippines!
Hi Charliedee,
I found it by reading lawyer like sites.
Spending time to decipher it and then re-writing it so it not so hard to understand.
Charliedee,
You might want to sign up for alerts on new post. You can do that using the form on the right side of this website.
hi how well can you live in cebu on 300 pounds a month please let me no brian
I don’t really know the rate of exchange for the pound but I think it is around P70. That will give you around P21000 a month.
I wouldn’t even consider trying to live her on that amount of money but and this is a big but, entire Filipino families live here on much less. Could it be done? Yes, I wouldn’t want to do it.
I know of a guy that has no income, his girlfriend works at SM. It depends on what is important to you and your health is also a concern. Can you live without Aircon?
hi there how hard would it be to start up a business in a shop if i had 55000 pounds to invest in one would it be poss to with that amount please let me no thanks brian
That is a pretty good sum of money.
Its also a lot of money to loose.
I can’t tell you if you’re business will do well or not.
I don’t know you for one. I don’t know what you have in mind.
There are dangers you should know about. My ebook would be helpful to you. http://expatmanual.com
hello AND THANKS FOR GETTING BACK TO ME what type of shop or what would you think would be a good thing to invest in im thinking of getting your book it sounds good and if i come over to cebu this year would it be okay to meet up with you there and i have 4 dogs that i would like to bring with me would there be a problem with that or not and i hope to see you when i com to cebu thanks brian
I don’t live in Cebu City and don’t go there very often. I like meeting others that visit but I don’t get to very often. If the chance arrives, of course.
You can bring pets to the Philippines. There are some procedures you’ll need to jump through to do it. I don’t think I have any information in my eBook on that. I will try to add that. I don’t recall right off the top of my head what you need to do to bring pets to the Philippines but it can be done.
I added a section to my eBook about bringing pets to the Philippines.