PH ranks 2nd highest salary rate in ASEAN – ECOP
Published May 10, 2023 09:45 am
The Philippines ranked second highest in salary rate among ASEAN countries, the Employers Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP) said amid clamor and a pending bill in the Senate seeking for P150 increase in the daily minimum wage rate.
ECOP President Sergio Ortiz-Luis Jr. said in an interview at the Laging Handa Public Briefing that based on data by the National Wages and Productivity Commission, the Philippines’ $10.14 daily minimum wage rate is second only to Malaysia with $11.16 as of August 2022. Indonesia is third highest with $10, followed by Thailand’s $9.23 and Vietnam’s $6.6. Singapore has no legislated minimum wage.
Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri has filed a bill seeking to raise the daily minimum salary rate in the National Capital Region by P150 to P720 from the current P570, approximately $10.14. Some segments claimed that the Philippine labor rate lagged behind other ASEAN countries, which daily wage rates now reach an equivalent of P800. “In truth, we are the second highest to Malaysia, it is just that we have higher prices of goods making it hard for ordinary Filipinos,” said Ortiz-Luis countered. While he said he trusts Zubiri, Ortiz-Luis said that the Senator has yet to consult the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), National Economic and Development Authority, and the employers to get the real picture. He reiterated that increasing the mandated minimum rate would only create a wider divide between the poor and the salaried workers. He stressed that only 16 percent of the close to 50 million workers in the country are daily wage earners or the formal sector, but the majority of 84 percent have no employers or the informal sector. These are the farmers, fisherfolks, tricycle drivers, vendors, self-employed, among others. “Will the government subsidize them, we cannot afford that because that means trillions of pesos, our budget cannot afford that,” he pointed out. There is no problem with the ECOP members, which are large, medium and small, because they can comply and even offer higher than the legislated minimum wage, but the problem is the micro businesses, which account for 90 percent of total business establishments in the country, he said. According to Ortiz-Luis, most of the micro businesses in the country closed shops during the pandemic and half of them still remained closed. Ortiz-Luis also reiterated his point that the daily wage rate should not be the basis for a family’s income because such rate is not really enough for a family of five. Instead, he said, a family income should be computed as a living wage, which includes other income of family members, government subsidies, free education, free health services, and other micro family from backyard farms. He likewise observed that the unemployment rate and inflation levels in the country have started to go down as expected because the economy has opened up fully after the pandemic, businesses are back, tourism has reopened, and the global supply chain disruption has returned closer to pre-pandemic level. For their part, he said, employers continue training their workers to ensure that skills meet with the demands of industries. In 2021, ECOP together with the DTI and Department of Labor and Employment joined together to create additional one million jobs in the tourism, IT-PBO, and construction sectors. He said the administration of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. is also doing right with the continuing infrastructure programs, among other initiatives. He even cited the President’s trips overseas to attract more foreign investments into the country to create more jobs. “All of these would eventually help raise our salary rates,” he said.
ECOP President Sergio Ortiz Luis, Jr.
Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri has filed a bill seeking to raise the daily minimum salary rate in the National Capital Region by P150 to P720 from the current P570, approximately $10.14. Some segments claimed that the Philippine labor rate lagged behind other ASEAN countries, which daily wage rates now reach an equivalent of P800. “In truth, we are the second highest to Malaysia, it is just that we have higher prices of goods making it hard for ordinary Filipinos,” said Ortiz-Luis countered. While he said he trusts Zubiri, Ortiz-Luis said that the Senator has yet to consult the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), National Economic and Development Authority, and the employers to get the real picture. He reiterated that increasing the mandated minimum rate would only create a wider divide between the poor and the salaried workers. He stressed that only 16 percent of the close to 50 million workers in the country are daily wage earners or the formal sector, but the majority of 84 percent have no employers or the informal sector. These are the farmers, fisherfolks, tricycle drivers, vendors, self-employed, among others. “Will the government subsidize them, we cannot afford that because that means trillions of pesos, our budget cannot afford that,” he pointed out. There is no problem with the ECOP members, which are large, medium and small, because they can comply and even offer higher than the legislated minimum wage, but the problem is the micro businesses, which account for 90 percent of total business establishments in the country, he said. According to Ortiz-Luis, most of the micro businesses in the country closed shops during the pandemic and half of them still remained closed. Ortiz-Luis also reiterated his point that the daily wage rate should not be the basis for a family’s income because such rate is not really enough for a family of five. Instead, he said, a family income should be computed as a living wage, which includes other income of family members, government subsidies, free education, free health services, and other micro family from backyard farms. He likewise observed that the unemployment rate and inflation levels in the country have started to go down as expected because the economy has opened up fully after the pandemic, businesses are back, tourism has reopened, and the global supply chain disruption has returned closer to pre-pandemic level. For their part, he said, employers continue training their workers to ensure that skills meet with the demands of industries. In 2021, ECOP together with the DTI and Department of Labor and Employment joined together to create additional one million jobs in the tourism, IT-PBO, and construction sectors. He said the administration of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. is also doing right with the continuing infrastructure programs, among other initiatives. He even cited the President’s trips overseas to attract more foreign investments into the country to create more jobs. “All of these would eventually help raise our salary rates,” he said.