Philippine daily wage insufficient to meet family living expenses

Graph from Ibon Foundation

MANILA, Philippines — The nationwide daily wage disparity averaged P762 as of March 2024, with the daily minimum wage averaging only P440, the think tank Ibon Foundation said on Wednesday.

Data from the Ibon Foundation showed that the wage gap was computed based on the average daily minimum wage and the average family living wage (FLW) for a family of five in all 17 regions in the country, which is at P1,207.

“Across all regions, the average minimum wage is only P440 or just a little over one-third (36 percent) of the average FLW for a family of five of P1,207, as of March 2024,” Ibon said.

Metro Manila logged the highest minimum wage at P610, but with a P587 wage gap, as it only accounts for 51 percent of the P1,197 FLW.

Meanwhile, the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao logged the lowest minimum wage at P361, only 18 percent of P2,053 FLW in the region.

According to Ibon, the computations on family living wage were based on data from the National Wages and Productivity Commission using March 2024 inflation data from the Philippine Statistics Authority.

The Senate has previously approved a P100 wage hike to all private sector workers, and is now currently awaiting approval from the House of Representatives before it can be sent to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. for signing.

Ibon, for its part, said earlier that there is enough data to prove that employers can afford to pay the proposed additional P100 daily wage increase.

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