The Philippines is a vibrant nation with an increasing population surpassing countries that had similar populations years ago, like Vietnam. For example, in 1960 the Philippines population was only 26 million. By 2013, the Philippines’ population had increased to 97 million. The nation uses the peso as its currency. What is the average salary in the Philippines?
Converting Pesos to United States Dollars
In May 2014, the exchange rate was 100 Philippine pesos to 2.28 United States Dollars. Generally, the currency should reflect the overall productivity of an entire nation. This exchange rate suggests that the United States is much more wealthy and productive than the Philippines.
The average salary is the total amount produced divided by the number of people. While this may sound sensible, the majority of people may not earn this amount. The median salary is what the majority of Philippines workers make.
The statistics for this predominately Catholic nation are not the most reliable. The World Bank has attempted to accumulate statistics for the average salary in the Philippines.
If we take the World Bank’s 2013 population of 97 million divided by a gross domestic product (GDP) of $250 billion, then we reach an average salary of $2577.32 per year. The Atlas Method confirms this gross national income (GNI) of $2,500.
Other Calculations of the Average Philippines Salary
The United States Department of Labor has a good website detailing all of the parameters of different jobs. The Salary Explorer website does a similar job for different nations. It goes into more detail about what each Philippines career makes.
This is a very helpful breakdown with the average salary in the Philippines being $11,959.56 per year. The median salary in the Philippines is about $7,660.8 per year. This seems a bit high compared to the earlier calculations.
The best thing to do is to compare similar wages on sites country-by-country. That will give you the ratio of wages in one country compared to another.
Just for a good comparison, the minimum wage for the Philippines is $1 per day in the non-plantation agricultural sector for the countryside. When working in the national capital, the minimum wage increases to about $2 per day.
Unfortunately, when these minimum wages per day are quoted for the non-agricultural sector, the agriculture wages are probably much lower and calculated based on the crop.