PH incomes can match Europe level – in 2050

The catch is that it won’t be happening anytime soon.

England-based research and advisory company Oxford Economics said in a report released on Wednesday night that it expects Manila residents’ incomes to approach the European level by 2050, as it highlighted the rapid ascent of Asian cities within global value chains and the “closing” gaps in living standards between emerging and developed economies.

Oxford Economics associate director Liam Sides and senior economist Christopher Reynolds said Manila is projected to add more than a million jobs in business services from 2025 to 2050.

In cities like the Philippine capital, they said such roles have expanded far beyond call-center work to include higher-skilled positions in IT, software development, data analytics, and other technical fields, offering both better pay and career growth.

High-value services

Sides and Reynolds said three other Asian cities — Delhi and Mumbai in India and Shenzhen, China — are expected to see similar gains, reflecting a broader shift in the region toward high-value service employment.

While job growth in business services has also been strong across the Middle East, the two analysts said it was Asian markets “that have dominated growth in business services since 2010 — and they will continue to do so.”

“Indeed, cities across Asia are becoming both significantly more populous and wealthier. In terms of the overall increase in high-income households between 2025 and 2050, Asian cities take eight of the top 10 spots globally,” they added.

Wide gap

Latest figures from the Philippine Statistics Authority show that the average annual income of families in Manila reached P482,490 in 2023, well above the national average of P353,230.

The income increase in Manila marked a 16.7-percent rise from 2021, the last year the triennial household survey was conducted. That slightly outpaced the 15-percent growth recorded nationwide.

Meanwhile, families in the wider National Capital Region earned an average of P513,520 in 2023, nearly 23-percent higher than in 2021.

The European Commission’s Eurostat policy department puts the average income of its residents at €37,860 a year (equivalent to P2.6 million at the current exchange rate).

Laggard

Among the nine major Asian cities analyzed in the report, Manila will be the slowest to catch up.

Estimates from Oxford Economics showed that Manila’s projected income growth would make it “increasingly comparable,” but not fully on par with European averages, over the next 25 years.

On the other hand, Shanghai, Beijing, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Shenzhen, Jakarta and Mumbai are all expected to surpass average European city living standards, while Ho Chi Minh City could reach parity.

In India, Hyderabad and Bengaluru are expected to surpass the European average for personal incomes before the end of the next decade, with Mumbai following before the end of 2050. 

Jakarta is projected to follow a similar trajectory, supported by Indonesia’s abundant natural resources and its relatively young, highly skilled workforce.

“Overall, these shifts represent a dramatic reversal, with people in China, India, and Indonesia returning to more similar levels of income relative to Europe, as they had before the Industrial Revolution,” Sides and Reynolds said.

“Convergence in global living standards is not inevitable,” they added.

Source: Business World

PHL monthly full-time wage averages P21,544

The average monthly wage of time-rated, full-time workers in the Philippines was P21,544 in 2024, according to the Occupational Wages Survey released by the Philippine Statistics Authority this week.

The survey, covering formal establishments with at least 10 workers, found that the national average basic pay was P20,309, with monthly cash allowances of P1,235.

Information and Communications Technology (ICT) posted the highest average monthly wage of P43,676, followed by Professional, Scientific, and Technical Activities at P36,096, and Electricity, Gas, Steam, and Air Conditioning Supply at P35,188. The Agriculture, Forestry, and Fishing sector had the lowest average wage of P14,615. In terms of basic pay, ICT led with P40,931, while Agriculture was at the bottom with P14,191.

Workers in the National Capital Region (NCR) were paid the highest average monthly wage of  P29,310, including the highest basic pay at P27,318 and the highest average allowance at P1,992. Calabarzon workers followed with P19,711, and the Central Visayas with P19,084.

Meanwhile, the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) recorded the lowest wage levels, with an average monthly wage of P11,495 and basic pay of P11,169. Also among the regions, the Cagayan Valley paid out lowest average allowance at P304.

The Electricity, Gas, Steam, and Air Conditioning Supply industry offered the highest average monthly allowance of P4,127, followed by Professional, Scientific, and Technical Activities with P3,543 and ICT P2,745. The Agriculture, Forestry, and Fishing sector had the lowest average allowance of P424.

Nationally, female workers earned an average of P22,236, exceeding the P21,009 pay of their male counterparts, resulting in a national gender wage gap of minus 5.8% in favor of women. Eleven of 17 regions also showed higher wages for female workers, with the largest gaps in Davao at minus 16.5%, the Western Visayas at minus 11.7%, and the NCR at minus 10.3%.

Some regions, including Calabarzon at 6.3%, Cordillera Administrative Region at 5.7%, and Ilocos at 4.7%, reported higher wages for men.

The highest-paying occupations included aircraft pilots and associate professionals in Air Transport (P137,999), air traffic safety electronics technicians (P131,536), and chemical engineers in the Manufacture of Coke and Refined Petroleum Products (P101,996).

Other top roles, such as actuaries, applications programmers, web and multimedia developers, software developers, and industrial engineers, earned between P65,806 and P99,154.

General office clerks averaged P19,721 and elementary occupations P13,506. The NCR reported the highest wages for both groups, while BARMM had the lowest.

Clerks earned most in Electricity, Gas, Steam, and Air Conditioning Supply, ICT, and Administrative and Support Service Activities, while elementary workers earned most in Electricity, Gas, Steam, and Air Conditioning Supply, ICT, and Water Supply; Sewerage, Waste Management, and Remediation Activities.