Fair incomes, safety nets, career progression urged for PHL workers

The Government needs to ensure that gig workers receive fair and transparent earnings to unlock the full potential of the gig economy, market research company Ipsos said.

Despite sharp swings in monthly pay, most Filipino gig workers remain upbeat about their prospects.

The findings come from Gig Life PH: Understanding the Realities and Preferences of Filipino Gig Workers, a new Ipsos Strategy3 study, which showed that many earn more without giving up full-time jobs, though monthly earnings fluctuate by 10 percent to more than 30 percent.

Alongside flexibility, workers said they want a safety net, with 64 percent prioritizing retirement planning and 58 percent seeking access to healthcare.

“The Philippine gig economy provides workers with a flexible and empowering source of income, presenting a dynamic avenue for economic growth,” Ipsos Strategy3 Principal Christine P. Dugay said at a briefing.

She said the government and gig platforms need to support such workers by ensuring fair and transparent earnings, investing in data systems, protecting workers, and offering skills development and career progression.

“(Workers) have to be provided breakdowns of earnings, bonuses, and deductions,” she added.

“There is really a need to standardize what we would call gig work principles,” she said, including defining base pay for gig workers.

“The government has to actually work with the gig platforms because they should see the pay structure … The government has to understand how they are defining base rates and what would be considered base pay,” she added.

She said that gig platforms can help by providing a detailed breakdown of earnings, bonuses, and deductions and adopting standardized definitions for base pay, search rates, and incentive schemes.

The Ipsos Gig Life PH study found that 64% of gig workers are actively planning for retirement, while 58% value access to healthcare.

“Given their preferences, we recommend there should actually be an improvement of social protection and retirement security for gig workers,” she said.

“We also are recommending that the government create benefits schemes. Gig workers want to be in control of their social protection; this is why you should allow them flexible app-based enrollments and contributions to enhance their social security,” she added.

Source: Business World

Are the earnings of an Overseas Filipino Worker (OFW) subject to tax?

For most Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs), their earnings from abroad are exempt from Philippine income tax under the National Internal Revenue Code (NIRC) and BIR regulations, as long as:

1. You are a non-resident citizen – An OFW is classified as a non-resident citizen if they work and derive income outside the Philippines.

2. The income is from abroad – Only income from sources within the Philippines is taxable. Salaries/wages earned from foreign employers abroad are not considered Philippine-sourced.

   
   

What is NOT taxed:

• Salaries, wages, and allowances received from a foreign employer abroad.

What can still be taxed:

• Income earned within the Philippines (e.g., rental income from property in PH, business in PH).

• Passive income from PH sources (e.g., bank interest, dividends, royalties) – subject to final tax.

Important Notes:

• OFWs are not required to pay income tax on foreign earnings, but if they earn in PH (side business, investments, rentals), they must file and pay for that income.

• OFWs still need to pay PhilHealth, Pag-IBIG, and SSS contributions (if voluntary or mandatory for OEC processing).

Source: Ziggurat Real Estate

Filipinos struggling on meager income

IBON Foundation said that involuntary hunger doubled under the administration of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

In a statement, IBON said the administration failed to ensure higher wages and low prices.

"The rise in hunger is a wake-up call that many Filipinos are struggling on meager incomes and the high cost of living. This shows government's rhetoric of economic gains and a robust jobs market is empty — just like the bellies of millions of hungry Filipinos," the group said.

Citing figures from a Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey, the number of Filipinos experiencing involuntary hunger more than doubled since the start of the Marcos administration, from 11.6 percent or 2.9 million families in June 2022 to 27.2 percent or 7.5 million families in March of this year.

IBON said the average daily minimum wage of P469 falls way below the P1,227 family living wage needed by a family of five, as of February this year.

"An indirect indicator of low incomes is the number of households without savings in any form increasing to 20.1 million, or 74 percent of the total, in the fourth quarter of 2024, based on Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) data.

Meanwhile, the overall price level of food has increased by 16 percent between June 2022 and February 2025, according to inflation data from the Philippine Statistics Authority," it said in a statement.

The group said that "persistent low incomes and high prices" are also behind the rise in hunger.

Source: Business World