THE country’s daily minimum wage is one of the highest in the region, based on the amount of rice, the staple food of Filipinos, it can buy.
The National Statistics Coordination Board’s newly released “Sexy Statistics” showed that last year, the daily minimum wages in the Philippines and Thailand could buy the most rice, compared to the daily minimum wages in other Asean member.
The country’s minimum daily wage of P270.98 or $6.16 could buy around 7.9 kilos of rice; in Thailand, the minimum daily wage of $4.84, can buy as much as 10.3 kilos of rice. The NSCB used the Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) estimate that each kilo of rice sold for $0.78 or around P34.34 per kilo in 2010.
“This means, kung ’yung kapasidad lang natin ang pagbabasihan, our minimum wage is not low compared to other countries. Of course, transportation costs are quite high but if the entire minimum wage is used only to buy rice, we can say that we are not far behind our Asean neighbors,” NSCB Secretary General Romulo A. Virola said.
Data also showed that when the minimum wage in Metro Manila is used, the Philippines replaces
Thailand in the top spot. The minimum daily wage in the National Capital Region (NCR) at P404 or $8.34 can buy as much as 10.69 kilos of rice.
Virola said that the data could also be used as an argument against increasing minimum wage. He said this is why the NSCB releases these kinds of statistics to contribute to government policy-making and planning.
“Based on these data, there is no need to increase minimum wage in the Philippines. But we all know that setting minimum wage setting is not as simple and we also need to take other factors into consideration,” Virola said.
Other data showed that other Asean members like Vietnam whose daily minimum wage is $1.74, could buy 3.95 kilos of rice; Cambodia with a daily minimum wage of $2.03, 4.95 kilos of rice; Indonesia with a daily minimum wage of $2, two kilos of rice; and Myanmar with a minimum wage of $3, 6.67 kilos of rice.
“Sexy statistics,” the NSCB said, is the agency’s response to calls for statistical agencies to come up with more interesting figures that laymen could appreciate. This was also brought about after the consultative workshop on the Philippine Statistical Development Program 2011-17.
The NSCB hopes to make full use of the statistics it compiles to widen access to those produced by the Philippine Statistical System. This, the NSCB hopes, could increase appreciation for statistics not only in the government but in the private sector.
