What is a Good Salary in the Philippines?
It can seem difficult to judge what a “good” salary is in the Philippines. After becoming intrigued with the query, I started to develop some research.
The findings were surprising, and I’m excited to show you the data I collected. But firstly, what is a good salary in the Philippines?
On average, an individual working in the Philippines earns 44,600 PHP ($931.06) each month, which is considered a good salary. This average was calculated from their lowest average salary, 11,300 PHP ($235.90), and their highest average salary, 199,000 PHP ($4154.29).
As you can grasp from the above, the lowest, median, and highest average salaries widely vary. To learn more about these wages’ overall distribution, I recommend you read the below.
Distribution of Salaries in the Philippines
The distribution of wages is vital for all countries as it determines their poverty levels. If wealth is too unevenly distributed, it can negatively affect the rich and poor.
This is because of the influence of money; the more people get paid, the harder they work. Therefore, an uneven split of rich and poor can destroy the economy.
The lowest salary in the Philippines
On average, around 25% of employees in the Philippines earn less than 26,800 PHP ($559.77) per month. Typically, you’ll find these workers in industries such as forestry, farming, freight, and tailoring.
From the above, you can understand that the mentioned industries underpay their employees.
Because we know the highest average salary is 199,000 PHP ($4154.29) per month, we can now say that 75% of employees in the Philippines earn between 26,800 PHP ($559.77) to 199,000 ($4154.29) each month.
Compared to the USA, workers in the lowest pay bracket in the Philippines earn $1,440.30 less each month than the USA’s lowest average salary.
Median salary in the Philippines
This graph shows that the distribution of salaries that earn the median pay is a maximum of 50%.
Within these findings, the data shows that 50% of all employees working in the Philippines make 48,200 PHP ($931.06) each month or less.
This means that not precisely 50% of the workforce in this country earns this median, but between 0-50%.
If we look at the average American’s wage from 2017, which was $60,558.
We can understand that Filipinos earn $49,289.28 less per year. This can seem rather jaw-dropping.
However, it’s estimated that living in the Philippines is 50-60% cheaper than in the USA, UK, or Australia.
So, although it may seem like the Filipino people get paid a significant amount less, it almost balances itself out because of the cost of living.
The highest salary in the Philippines
Now, moving onto the top 50%, considered the “higher” salaries in the Philippines.
These people earn over 48,200 PHP ($931.06) and the highest average of 199,000 PHP ($4154.29).
From this data, we’re able to discover that the top 25% of Philippine workers earn an average of 123,600 PHP ($2579.51) per month by finding the median of both the highest and average salaries.
Let’s say you double it to make it into a household income. This will be around 1.4 million PHP ($30,950.00) each year in the highest pay bracket.
However, in the US, only 25.4% of households earn below $34,900 yearly.
Difference Between Men and Women’s Salary in the Philippines
Another interesting statistic is the pay difference between men and women in the Philippines.
The pay gap between men and women is a global issue that has existed since the beginning of time.
However, how does the Philippines compare to the US in gender pay equality?
In the Philippines, men are paid more than 15% across all industries.
Considering their average monthly monthly salaries, women will get paid 41,500 PHP ($866.10) and men 47,700 PHP ($991.32).
If we compare this to the US, there’s almost a 3 percent pay difference in the Philippines.
In the United States, it’s estimated that a woman earns 82.3 cents for every dollar a man accumulates. Women get paid a whopping 17.7% less than men in the US.
Average Annual Salary Increase in the Philippines
Something else I found interesting during my research was the average annual salary increase workers in the Philippines receive.
Typically, this is measured annually or over 16 months.
Philippines Average increase
In the Philippines, you’ll be surprised to hear that they receive a higher annual increase than the rest.
If you’re working in this country, you can be expected to receive around an 8% pay increase every 16 months of employment.
This widely depends on the industry you work in. For a better understanding, see the below chart of the annual average increases that salaries encounter, depending on your industry.
| Industry | Increase Percentage |
| Energy | 9% |
| Banking | 9% |
| Information Technology | 9% |
| Travel | 9% |
| Construction | 9% |
Source – Salary Explorer
For further clarity, you can also see the below data that is based on the average salary increase based on experience level:
| Experience Level | Increase Percentage |
| Junior Level | 3% – 5% |
| Mid-Career | 6% – 9% |
| Senior Level | 10% – 15% |
| Top Management | 15% – 20% |
Source – Salary Explorer
As you can see from the above, the more experienced you are in a specific industry, the higher the chances of a higher pay increase every 16 months.
Worldwide Average Increase
The above-average increases from the Philippines seem rather impressive, to say the least. But how does this compare to the rest of the world?
On average, the rest of the world gains around a 3% increase in their annual pay every 16 months.
This means that people working in the Philippines tend to get a more significant pay increase each year.
However, you have to take into consideration a variety of different factors. For example, people working in the Philippines get paid less.
Therefore, there is more room for pay increases than in other places worldwide.
If the average American who earns $60,558 a year gained an 8% increase annually, they’d be making an astonishing amount of money.
Because the pay brackets are much lower in the Philippines, they can achieve higher annual salary increases.
Conclusion
As you can see from the above, over 50% of people living in the Philippines, generate a “good” salary compared to other employees.
Throughout this post, we’ve spoken about the distribution of wages and the average salary increases workers receive in this country annually.
I found the salary increase statistic interesting, but this is understandable due to their pay brackets.
If you receive this type of increase anywhere else from an annual perspective, in 20-30 years, you’d be making an incredible amount of money.
