Family daily living wage now around P1,100 in most regions, P1,900 in BARMM —IBON

Due to the impact of inflation, the daily living wage for a family with five members is now at least P1,100 in most regions and P1,900 in Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), economic think tank IBON Foundation said Friday.

Interviewed on GMA News’ Unang Balita, IBON executive director Sonny Africa said they added the additional costs caused by the inflation to the latest family living wage that was computed by the National Wages and Productivity Commission in 2008.

"Na-compute namin sa BARMM, P1,900 ang kailangan na family living wage so medyo extreme 'yun [We computed that P1,900 is the family living wage in BARMM and that's extreme]," he said.

"Pero sa pangkalahatan, sa iba't ibang rehiyon ng Pilipinas, more or less nasa P1,100 to P1,133 nga 'yung family living wage para sa pamilya ng lima," he added.

(But in general, for different regions in the Philippines, the family living wage for a family of five is more or less P1,100 to P1,133.)

Earlier this year, regional wage boards approved an increase in the minimum wage in several regions, with the lowest in BARMM with P305, and the highest in Metro Manila with P570 as of October 2022.

Africa said the current  daily minimum wage in BARMM is only about 20% of the family living wage. In other regions, it is only around 30% to 40%. In Metro Manila and most regions, it is only around 50%.

Partido Manggagawa earlier called for a P100 across-the-board increase in the country’s minimum wage, citing the 14-year high inflation recorded in October.

Based on IBON’s 2019 study on providing P750 daily minimum wage to workers, Africa said medium and large enterprises have the resources to provide additional wage as only 20% would be deducted from their profit.

For micro businesses, Africa said around 50% of their profit would be reduced if they provide the P750 daily minimum wage. He added that the government should give assistance to these businesses.

According to Africa, most workers are employed in medium and large enterprises. Less than one third are employed in micro enterprises, he said.

The Department of Labor and Employment earlier said that there should only be one wage adjustment in a year based on existing laws.

However, Africa pointed out that the government can still implement another increase this year considering that inflation can be an exception to the rule. —KBK, GMA Integrated News