THE lowest paid workers in July are also the poorest Filipinos nationwide based on the latest data released by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
Per the PSA data, skilled agricultural forestry and fishery workers received an average daily basic pay of P363 per day in July 2023. This is lower than the P392 recorded in April 2023 but higher than the P308 posted in July 2022.
These workers also belong to the poorest sector in the economy. Based on the 2021 data from the PSA, the poverty rate among farmers reached 30 percent while the rate for fisherfolk was higher at 30.6 percent.
“These sectors [farmers and fisherfolk] had the highest proportion of individuals belonging to families with income below the official poverty thresholds compared to the other basic sectors of the population,” PSA earlier said.
In terms of subsistence incidence, the farmers and fisherfolk were also considered the poorest. The subsistence incidence of farmers was at 10.7 percent while that of the fisherfolk was at 10.8 percent.
“This indicates,” said PSA, “that around one in every 10 fishermen belongs to a family that is food-poor or a family with income that is not sufficient to buy its minimum basic food needs.”
Apart from workers in the agriculture and fishery sector, the other lowest paid Filipinos are those engaged in elementary occupations and service and sales workers.
Those engaged in elementary occupations received an average daily basic pay of P392 while service and sales workers received P491 per day.
The average daily basic pay of Filipinos in elementary occupations in July increased from the P369 in April 2023 and P356 posted in July 2022.
In terms of service and sales workers, their average daily basic pay in July was also higher than the P478 posted in April 2023 and P457 recorded in July 2022.
Managers’ pay
Meanwhile, the top paid Filipinos, composed of managers, received an average daily basic pay of P1,199 in July 2023. However, this was lower than the P1,236 average posted in April 2023 but higher than the P1,151 posted in July 2022.
This was followed by professionals who received an average basic pay of P1,073 per day and the members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines who received P1,021 daily.
The average daily basic pay of professionals in July was lower than the P1,128 they received in April 2023 but higher than the P1,066 in July 2022.
As for the armed forces, their average daily basic pay in July was lower than the P1,153 they received in April 2023 and the P1,034 in July 2022.
Image credits: AP/Aaron Favila