Standard of living in the Philippines

[bender]

I just read an article on MSN Money titled "How long does it take to earn a Big Mac" wherein a measure of the purchasing power of people residing in certain cities is obtained by comparing their wages and the prices of a benchmark item that is universal. Since Mcdonald's has branches throughout the world and a Big Mac has very little variation across countries, it is a good benchmark. The key thought in the article is that "Wages only become meaningful in relation to prices -- that is, what can be bought with the money earned."

Key findings that relates to us:
We have one of the lowest purchasing power as somebody with a job has to work 81 minutes to be able to afford a Big Mac compared to developed cities like Tokyo (10 minutes), Los Angeles (11 minutes), New York (13 minutes), Hong Kong (17 minutes) with the worldwide average being 35 minutes.

The UBS survey, conducted every three years, rated Oslo as the most expensive city on the basis of the cost of a basket of 122 goods and services, excluding rent. It was followed by London; Copenhagen, Denmark; Zurich, Switzerland; Tokyo; Geneva; New York; Dublin, Ireland; Stockholm, Sweden; and Helsinki, Finland.
The least expensive cities were Manila, Philippines; Delhi; Buenos Aires; Bombay and Kuala Lumpur.

[uls]

here's an article from Slate. The Rising Cost of Living Well

http://www.slate.com/id/2147256/?GT1=8483


Pero dito sa Pinas dami tao lagi sa mga Starbucks.

[guido]

nung na interview si mahathir dito last year, sabi nya di daw applicable dito yung mcdonald's index, jolibee index daw dapat.

[uls]

How about the Instant Noodle Index.

that's the only thing people can afford nowadays...

[Jun aka Pekto]

Whenever I was visiting the Philippines, I stayed as far away as possible from fast food. I use the "hipon index" which is how much shrimp/prawns can I buy from the local palengke (near my wife's place at Tacloban, Leyte) or even direct from the fishing boat (I love the province, even though electric power sucks). Hand in hand with the hipon index is the beer index. I like it.

[_Qwerty_]

matagal na yang BIG MAC index..

usually they take the daily minimum wage and the price of big mac.. tapos inaalam kung ilan big mac mabibili sa minimum wage..

dito sa atin.. for Php350.00 at 80.00 na ba big mac.. so that's 4.37 big mac lang.. for a minimum wage..

sa US.. magkano ba minimum wage?? say 8 dollars per hour.. so that's 48 dollars per day.. a big mac is say 2 dollars.. so a day's minimum wage there can buy 24 big macs.. ganyan kalaki diprensya dito sa atin at sa US.. dito sa atin 4 lang sa kanila 24 na big mac..

[bender]

How about the Instant Noodle Index.

that's the only thing people can afford nowadays...

That's what most local research agencies use as their index for food. The problem in the Philippines is the wide disparity in incomes among the social classes and in the population of people belonging to each social class.

[carwise]

mga ka bayan pwedeng maki sahog?totoo lahat yang standard na yan but then happy parin ako uwi sa pinas, sa pinas wala akong utang,pero dito sa UK puro utang lahat credit card at bank loan kahit kumikita kana ng higit pa sa minimum.minsan o dalawang beses ko lang madala kids ko sa kfc or pizza hut.naka bimmer ka nga,1 pound naman gas dika maka layo, starbucks reklamo nga si misis every other wk lang,sa pinas 2 a wk pwede ka pancake house or starbucks,saka kahit 1 a month pwede sa sea food resto, dito 3 years na kami 1 palang sa chinise resto noh ba yan,

[mazdamazda]

The least expensive cities were Manila, Philippines; Delhi; Buenos Aires; Bombay and Kuala Lumpur.

As long as you kept non-essential spending to a minimum and don't have a dozen children you'll stay afloat here.

[Fast Eddie]

The key thought in the article is that "Wages only become meaningful in relation to prices -- that is, what can be bought with the money earned."

ot:

sana naman taas-taasan ng gobyerno pa ang sweldo ng mga ordinaryong workers, para ung kita nila pwedeng e-match sa mga bilihin sa tin.

kung napakababa naman ang minimun wages sa tin, hindi pa nila maimamatch, ung cost of living allowances para sa everyday necessities ng tao.(sakto lang sa mga daily needs ng mamamayan) karamihan sa mga mamamayan sa tin di na nila kayang bilhin ung mga ibang bagay. kagaya ng:disenteng bahay,
sasakyan,appliances,electronics etc. karamihan sa atin di nila mabili ang mga gamit na ito dahil kasi mababa ang pasweldo sa tin.

noong si henry ford(vehicle mfg)noon, ang ginawa nya sa mga workers nila.
pinapasweldo nilang malaki; kaci nga naman, pag maliit lang ang pasweldo nya
sa mga workers nya sino pang makakabili sa mg oto nya. kundi lang ung me mga kaya at mayayaman.

sana naman maisip ng presidente ito, para sa mga tao. para lahat mukhang pantay-pantay. tingnan mo sa ibang mga coutries, kagaya ng: usa,canada,europe. kahit anong klaseng trabaho ng mga tao, na-aaford nila ung mga mamahalin gamit. vehicles,homes,electronics,et.al. sa atin, halos di
na ma-afford ang mga basic necessities. kaya halos mga pilipino, gusto mag abroad. kaci, kahit maliit sahod nabibili ung gusto nilang bilhin. sa atin mga tao halos puro gutom, at sa panaginip na nalang nila ini-illusyon ang magkaroon.

[niky]

It's very hard to increase minimum wages. It's not as simple as "1-2-3... more money for you, more money for me."

Consider:

Minimum wage is computed against cost-of-living in Manila.

In the province, cost-of-living is much much lower than in Manila. When they raised the minimum for teachers in public schools to 8000 pesos, that didn't seem like much to most people. Especially in Manila, that money will hardly get you by if you've got kids (as most teachers do).

But in the province, teachers were ecstatic. Some were dumping their jobs in private schools to go to public schools. Why? Because cost-of-living there is low, salaries are likewise lower.... simply because the schools also charge much lower tuition (sometimes 1/2 of tuition in Manila).

Yes, good for them. But what happens when businesses need to pay higher wage? It means they can hire less people. And the people they won't re-hire are the marginal ones with marginal income.

And the US is a poor comparison. They have a booming economy, thus they can afford to pay much higher wages. Wages so high, in fact, with so many bonuses, that they nearly destroyed Ford, and caused billions in losses for GM, merely because they were so generous with salary, health bonuses and retirement packages. Those highly paid workers are now being laid off because the companies can't afford to pay them.

In fact, wages are so high that a lot of those jobs are coming to us. Especially the call centers. Yay, Philippines!

The key to uplifting our people is to increase the number of jobs. Increase the amount of local goods they can buy, so they don't have to pay extra for imported items. And increase the productivity of local industries and commerce so that they can afford to pay more.

Higher production and profit from a local factory = more jobs and better pay.

Higher wages imposed on a local factory with no increase in production and profit = higher selling price (less Pinoys will be able to afford it), lower volume, and lost employment opportunities.

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Of course, worker's rights always need to be upheld. Unfortunately, our government is very lax in enforcement... just look at SM, which uses a questionable contractual system to insulate itself from rising wages. In fact, contractual labor is becoming very popular nowadays as a way to increase the bottom line. It's just getting too expensive for companies to hire permanent people for work that is flexible in demand and production.

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Ang sayang lang dito sa Pinas are the lost opportunites and employment possibilities due to the strength of the unions. A lot of well-paid and well-cared for employees of multinational companies (paid at scales well-beyond that of regular industry) are out of jobs now because of the p*tang-*nang KMU. Why the hell don't they go after sweat-shops and slave labor instead of just the big name companies? Damn communists.