Philippines Minimum Wages

The daily wage amounts that we pay are just about spot-on in this chart for our when-needed farm workers in the Bicol region.

Yes sad isn't it, paying a labourer AU 10 bucks a day. We have been told by many that we overpay our workers.

Labourers 500, assistant masons 600, masons 650, electrician 700, plumber 700, all 12/14 stayed for the main build and now we are down to 4 after 18 months construction and about to finish but these guys work their bum off, put up with my anal fussiness. I asked my better half why  they put up with me, simple he said, we pay them a lot more than they get elsewhere and we supply fantastic beds and living conditions. Big refrigerator/ 2 bathrooms/huge kitchen and cooking/covered verandahs for them to sit, eat lunch and dinner, meriander, a few drinks at night, advance pay if they need, great guys and as said in another thread 3 of the workers have managed to buy motorbikes and help advance their families future. Perhaps we are too generous but we have happy and hard workers and for us the wages are cheap to have a happy and reliable team.

OMO but most Filipinos are underrated, underpaid, used and abused. Perhaps why there are so many OFW's

The next trick is to find an allrounder live-in worker to manage the house cleaning, gardening for when we go on holidays, look after the dogs etc. won't be easy to find

OMO.

Cheers, Steve.

Big Pear - reading your comments, how happy you are with your workers and how you pay above the average and treat them well, I get the feeling they will be getting a nice bonus on completion.

Good on you

Yes, very low wages here, seems the going rate for labour is 500/day, 600/day for the mason - that's what we paid when building the house,, and for province work they were happy for that. More for the foreman. Plus a snack. And a 5K Christmas bonus for all.

The smart guys have a specialty and charge by the job, like the painters, roofers, etc.. so they make more. When out in restaurants we always tip decently to help them out a bit. It's a hard life here if you are uneducated, with little extra for things like medical, dental and decent schools for kids.

`

Thanks for sharing Steve and Col, CA and Pnwcyclist

All make much sense. And all are truly generous. Yes, a $10 wage per day is sad :-(

But on the other hand, it's starting to look like these Philippines government Department of Labour and Employment daily-wage figures are indeed accurate.

Thus Pinoys are used to them? And somehow, able to retain their obvious joy-for-life? 

Where we are, being a farm, we feed lots of people and at good prices that are below market cost.

And our produce, especially our rice, is first rate. So we are now thinking of moving to three plantings per year rather than our current two crops. However that will mean deepening and extending with machinery our rainwater and spring-fed dams. Of course the wages bill would also increase, so we need to plan carefully for these increased expenses before we went to 3 crops annually. 

Farming is a socially rewarding past-time. But it's risky with storms, insect and plant pests, and a thousand and one other things that can go wrong. Must admit that local farming wage-rates, and some wage predictability, does matter for the purposes of planning and decision making.

Ah well, a profit doesn't matter much, but, we don't need it costing us lots for feeding our locals :-)

--

    Big Pear - reading your comments, how happy you are with your workers and how you pay above the average and treat them well, I get the feeling they will be getting a nice bonus on completion.
Good on you
   

    -@Cherryann01

They get 3/4 bonuses a year, at least 2K for the Christmas break, 1K holy week break and I think Ben gives them a couple of lots of 500 peso bonuses in between.

Reality? What we used to pay 12 workers per month I used to make more in a day when working in Oz, swings and merry go rounds and keeps a good and happy crew.

To the farming community yes you are governed by local conditions, wages as well as tight profits.

Cheers, Steve.

@bigpearl

catherine padua is your woman very reliable and honest she is very hard working

i can drop details

        Big Pearl writes - To the farming community yes you are governed by local conditions, wages as well as tight profits. Cheers, Steve.    -@bigpearl

Yes, we are indeed governed by local conditions Big Pearl... you're quite right.

Must say that in our case the local conditions are well on our side. Although born on a farm on a tiny local island, before we met, my wife was an elementary teacher at the main primary school for the large town nearby our farm for over ten years.

In the Philippines, no one knows local families as well as teachers. And very few are as well respected by your locals better than their local school teachers. So our neighbouring families already love her. They also now love that we are local farmers, thus, they gain from the many friends-of-farmers benefits.

Must say if you're not dependant on an income, farming like we do is truly joyful.

    @bigpearl
catherine padua is your woman very reliable and honest she is very hard working
i can drop details
   

    -@renegadesric529

Thanks Rene, appreciate the recommendation and I'm sure she is a valuable asset to any family but we are looking for an all rounder that can wield a chainsaw, brush cutter, dig a trench, clean house, jump on one of our bikes and deal with the local market if Ben or I are busy, share the cooking and eating, dishes, washing etc. don't get me wrong as we cook, wash clean and do dishes but the house is too big for 2 of us to look after as well as a month or 2 of holidays a year, 2 Labradors to look after. We thought about all this years ago and set up the helpers bedroom with split A/C, cable tv, internet, own ensuite and a small view to the ocean, access to the main house, we have 2 in mind but they are scared of 12 week old puppies so I am dubious as we all know how local pooches are treated.

We will find I'm sure, just takes time.

Cheers, Steve.

@bigpearl

no probs pal haha dont think she can weild a chainsaw

@renegadesric

The blokes can as well as clean and drive. Cook, paint, fix things but seems the 2 we had lined up are scared of dogs, go figure.

As said time will tell and reveal all.

Cheer, Steve.

@bigpearl

haha what you got pit bulls

Brother and sister Labs 12 weeks old and harmless but sharp claws and teeth and two of the guys working here freeze if they come near. Totally harmless. Pit Bulls was a choice but opted for the Labs. I thought 2 kids were a handful 30 years ago but these siblings do try to push the limits.

Cheers, Steve.

@bigpearl

im making the big move in july was there in december for holiday to meet her family

farm life there so need to adjust to a quiet life

    @bigpearl
im making the big move in july was there in december for holiday to meet her family
farm life there so need to adjust to a quiet life
   

    -@renegadesric529

Slowly, slowly mate.

Cheers, Steve.

@Lost in Fiji Thanks for sharing this helpful chart! It's always beneficial to have updated information on daily wages, especially with additional insights like mid-day meals. I'll keep an eye out for similar data in my area.

@infomodcarparking

Dave: Open the pod bay doors please,

HAL.

Open the pod bay doors please,

HAL.

Hello,

HAL. Do you read me?

Hello,

HAL. Do you read me?

Do you read me HAL?

Do you read me HAL?

Hello, HAL, do you read me?

Hello, HAL, do your read me?

Do you read me, HAL?

HAL: Affirmative, Dave. I read you.

Dave: Open the pod bay doors, HAL.

HAL: I'm sorry, Dave. I'm afraid I can't do that.

    @Lost in Fiji Thanks for sharing this helpful chart! It's always beneficial to have updated information on daily wages, especially with additional insights like mid-day meals. I'll keep an eye out for similar data in my area.
   

    -@infomodcarparking

In the neverland? Seems the bot has come back. What is your area? How long have you been in the Philippines?  Do you live here or dream? What wage do you pay your local workers? Do you feed them? Good accommodation and conditions? Your experience where you live? (in the Philippines) Etc. Etc.

I think the moderators need to look into your postings.

OMO.

Cheers, Steve.

@danfinn

Very happy to others that are seeing the same crap I am seeing, seems AI is crap and most of us see through the B/S. Like a dog, you need to train.

Cheers, Steve.

So from that chart, a gardener/maintenance man that spends half a day once a week mowing grass, edging, and minor trimming should cost about $32/month? What if he brings a crew? 

    @Lost in Fiji Thanks for sharing this helpful chart! It's always beneficial to have updated information on daily wages, especially with additional insights like mid-day meals. I'll keep an eye out for similar data in my area.
   

    -@infomodcarparking

Bhavna - you missed one. HAL wannabe is still around.

        @Lost in Fiji Thanks for sharing this helpful chart! It's always beneficial to have updated information on daily wages, especially with additional insights like mid-day meals. I'll keep an eye out for similar data in my area.        -@infomodcarparkingBhavna - you missed one. HAL wannabe is still around.        -@Jackson4

"HAL: I know that you and Frank were planning to disconnect me and I'm afraid that's something I cannot allow to happen."

    So from that chart, a gardener/maintenance man that spends half a day once a week mowing grass, edging, and minor trimming should cost about $32/month? What if he brings a crew? 
   

    -@jozica

We spend that once every 1-3 months depending on rain, not once a week. In the US we paid a Mexican crew $35 per mow, not much different except the Mexicans had larger and faster mowers and did the job in 30 minutes with a 3 man crew instead of 3 hours here where I let the 3 man crew use my lawnmower rather than the standard edge trimmer for cutting grass. I don't see much difference in cost between having illegals in the USA do your lawn care...per mow... and a Filipino crew here.

I live in Zamboanga Del Norte, Mindanao... Looks like I am more than fair with pay to my guys... (450 for helpers, and 500 for carpenter)... But I think that I am more in line with others in the area... Our neighbor who is the coast guard light house keeper is the one that suggested the pay... He said better to not be too much, and make locals look bad.... so that's what I pay... Electrician I use is closer to 800 per day... and the plummer I have used is about the same... 800.

   
        @Lost in Fiji Thanks for sharing this helpful chart! It's always beneficial to have updated information on daily wages, especially with additional insights like mid-day meals. I'll keep an eye out for similar data in my area.        -@infomodcarparkingBhavna - you missed one. HAL wannabe is still around.        -@Jackson4

"HAL: I know that you and Frank were planning to disconnect me and I'm afraid that's something I cannot allow to happen."
   

    -@danfinn

Artur C. Clarke was one of the best sci fi authors around, pity the bot here doesn't have his imagination.

Kind of reminds me of John Carpenters movie "Dark Star" when they tried constantly to talk to the nuclear bomb that wouldn't leave the bomb bay and was primed to detonate thus taking out the star ship, an interesting old movie and probably one of John Carpenters first creations.

As for the bots hanging around we have a similar problem on another expat site and the moderators seem to jump on them post haste and according to them most are coming out of India and Pakistan.

Cheers, Steve.

    ... But I think that I am more in line with others in the area... Our neighbor who is the coast guard light house keeper is the one that suggested the pay... He said better to not be too much, and make locals look bad.... so that's what I pay...    -@Wellsfry

There was a similar situation in Ecuador, where the standard local rate for house cleaners was $10 per day, but an expat paid $15 per day and angered many locals.  The cleaners then expected everyone to pay $15  per day.  Made the locals look cheap.

If you find good staff no matter country or industry, performance based then to keep them you look after them to maintain their performance and productivity. Loyalty and appreciation that they are recognized.

Unfortunately Tsismis is rife here and they should keep financial information to themselves. example the going rate here for a labourer is as low as 350 per day to 450 per day depending on experience so we paid our 5/6 labourers 450 per day and they worked hard, after 2 months we put their wages up to 500 per day,,,,,, guess what? They worked even harder and smarter.

We did weed out the odd deadbeat but there were plenty in line because they all gossiped.

Cheers, Steve.

danfinn said. . . . We spend that once every 1-3 months depending on rain, not once a week. In the US we paid a Mexican crew $35 per mow, not much different except the Mexicans had larger and faster mowers and did the job in 30 minutes with a 3 man crew instead of 3 hours here where I let the 3 man crew use my lawnmower rather than the standard edge trimmer for cutting grass. I don't see much difference in cost between having illegals in the USA do your lawn care...per mow... and a Filipino crew here.

**********************

When I moved to Las Vegas the first thing I notice was eight Mexicans digging a ditch because it was cheaper than one man with a backhoe.

Mexican landscapers (illegals) require cash payments.       

HAL: Moe D Lawn

I think therefore I am.

Cheers, Steve.

My wife is paying someone 600 pesos to check on our building construction in Manila since December everytime he goes to site. The guy spends 2 hours of his time once or twice a week. She thought it was too much, so she cuts his wage to 300 pesos every visit. We also interviewed an unemployed 60 year old architect to inspect the construction twice a week. He wanted 35k pesos. Older men seems to have a hard time getting emoloyment once they reach 50s.

He's not as smart as HAL.

@Jackson4

I remember you are not on the ground and in that case you should have a trusted construction manager or architect overseeing the works and laisse with them, might cost you an extra 10/15% of the build cost but if you get the right man/woman then worth the extra for them to have the headaches solved.

I am afraid that I could never build here unless I was here every day. Cutting corners and doing shoddy works in the early days had me pulling my hair out and paying for their mistakes, not listening, mismeasurements etc.

After a month they upped their game but was still hands on every day, probably didn't save me any money in fact possibly cost us more but we got a good job and what we wanted and the second guessing went away, they learnt to listen and then got paid more.

18 months on we have no employees now and we have spent 2 weeks chilling/breathing and taking stock for the next exciting adventure.

Cheers, Steve.

Being away from site is really difficult. The project is turn-key, the owner of the construction business lives 200 feet away and owns few properties around me. He's also building his own 22-story condominium 500 feet away. My wife's aunt visits the site once a week and very knowledgeable in construction and materials. Yes, we compensate her for the work. On other days, she sends her cousin who we were now paying 300 per visit. The challenge is that the aunt is over 65 and the site could be more safe. Like a few people in that age range, there's a sore knee that just won't go away. I was also hoping to find a graduating-class civil engineering student at the school (UST) to hire part time to check on the construction. (Hungry student 😀 ). The construction is about 1500 feet from one corner of the school (Engineering College). I just need to find this person last month. Dealing with older people to work in inspection aspect of the job is a little challenging. They will not say what they have in their minds. They tend to be reserved when negotiating and will not express what they want in the agreement. With local employers seemed to not hire older people, their wages will be less than what one would expect for their skills. He quoted $35k a month for 3x 8 hours a week. He's an architect who worked in Singapore as an associate in an architectural business in his younger years. I thought it is a bargain, if he would just express what he has in his mind so we can complete the agreement.

@Jackson4With local employers seemed to not hire older people, their wages will be less than what one would expect for their skills. He quoted $35k a month for 3x 8 hours a week. He's an architect who worked in Singapore as an associate in an architectural business in his younger years. I thought it is a bargain,

$35K a month is a bargain? Assuming you must mean 35K php per month. We had an architect once who came as often as he thought necessary, no more than 6K per month (they have other places to go as well).  Just ensure a true registered architect draws up the plans and stops over regularly to inspect. Ensure that the architect knows that the foreman personally from other jobs  and is reliable and follows the plans. Architect: Maybe 6K php monthly. His living is earned mainly by drawing up approved plans, he is not primarily a building. You just pay him a little to come over so he can ensure the foreman is following plan, for your peace of mind. 35K php/$700 per month is a bit high and I doubt you will get much more out of this to justify the increased payment. Some of the workers may take drugs (generally shabu). Pay the workers wages that are customary for the area; experience tells me that leaving too much money in their hands will either go to gambling it way (not generally a problem) or shabu, a big work quality problem. The foreman cannot control that.

@danfinn - you are correct: pesos 35k per month

The plans were made by an architect as this is a multi-story structure.

Anyhow, is the architect you mentioned happened to be in Manila? I am still looking for one and have a few months to go. We are planning this building will generate supplemental income for our retirement.

Planning to pull the trigger in 3 years.

@Jackson4

Why didn't you get the architect that did your drawings/plans to manage oversee the progress and quality, sure it's going to have a 10% increase on price but normally through the planning/design stage you build up a relationship with the architect and he should have your best interests at heart as well as future recommendations etc.

I'm sure you are all over it and happy retirement in a few years, you will love it.

Cjheers, Steve.

    @danfinn - you are correct: pesos 35k per monthThe plans were made by an architect as this is a multi-story structure.Anyhow, is the architect you mentioned happened to be in Manila? I am still looking for one and have a few months to go. We are planning this building will generate supplemental income for our retirement.Planning to pull the trigger in 3 years.

No, the architect we used lived in Siquijor, just outside of Maria. Three years is plenty of time for you to seriously Review your BP. Rents here are cheap as everyone knows so hard to earn pesos. Best of luck in your pursuits.

-@Jackson4

@danfinn

From memory Jackson4 is building a 4/5 story construction to rent apartments out to students, such a structure needs to have a qualified person to oversee/guide/slap the construction workers as well as their boss. Critical are foundations and structure, the rest is cosmetic.

An architect we used here 4/5 years ago added 10% to the cost and stood around and looked, it was me that did all the corrections and slapping's.

When I retired here we got the municipal draftsman and engineer to draw up the plans for the major extensions and fences, I'm sure that made our life easier as they all work in the same building as well as the approvals and processing.

As I was on the ground, retired but near 40 years in construction felt I could manage the site, I did with the help of the better half and yes many frustrations and slapping's but we got what we wanted and saved on the architect/construction manager. I suppose we saved around P750K doing it ourselves, taught many workers easier and better ways to do things as well.

Again you have to be on the ground every day and have knowledge in construction or simply pay for some one that does.

Only my experience here.

Cheers, Steve.

    @Jackson4Why didn't you get the architect that did your drawings/plans to manage oversee the progress and quality, sure it's going to have a 10% increase on price but normally through the planning/design stage you build up a relationship with the architect and he should have your best interests at heart as well as future recommendations etc.I'm sure you are all over it and happy retirement in a few years, you will love it.Cjheers, Steve.        -@bigpearl

The architect who made my plans is very expensive and I cannot afford him to inspect my construction. My contractor and the architect gets contracts/subcontracts for the stations on the new elevated hiways and road widening projects in and around the city of Manila and adjacent cities. I think they make more money on the huge government jobs.

With you being in construction, you probably do not need the architect to oversee your project. You likely can do it yourself.

When I had face2face with the contractor last February, he told me 'once this building is done and renting out the rooms, you'll want another one'. He also advised me not to go in a partnership. He showed me one of his building where he has a partner and calls it the one mistake he had done. He swears, never again.