How much are Filipinos making these days?

The national average income of Filipino families according to official statistics is P235,000, or around P19,600 monthly for a family with five members. As with other indicators, that average rises to a comparatively higher P379,000 in the National Capital Region. 

That figure is actually misleading, since the national average is driven up by income from the top 10% of the population whose annual family wealth is three times that of the national average. Accounting only for the 90% of Filipino families without this fabulously rich bunch would yield a mean P181,000 annual earnings, or P15,000 monthly, which is probably closer to the reality of the average Pinoy household.

Inequality remains notable. The richest families earn ten times as much as the poorest families on a national average, with those belonging to the top decile mentioned earlier earning P715,000 a year or P60,000 a month. In Metro Manila, the top income earning families earn P83,000 a month, which means they make more in a month what the poorest Filipinos do in 14 months (1 year, 2 months).

The richest 10% of Filipino families own no less than 30% of the nation's wealth. The rest divide the 70% among themselves, but those in the poorest decile have only a meager 3% share, or P147 billion. The PSA's Table 7 is a reminder of what Capitalism is basically all about: The concentration of wealth for those already at the top of the pyramid.

The news is that inequality did not change in the first three years of the Aquino administration. According to the PSA, "the income of families in all per capita income deciles had hardly changed within the period 2009-2012." The next batch of survey results similar to where these figures were taken are not due until February 2017.

What do the figures from the poorest decile actually mean? It means that 10.7 million Filipinos belong to 2.1 million Filipino families whose income does not exceed P6,000 monthly. Or, that's 10.7 million Filipinos living on just about P40 a day.

It also shows ineffective measurement. The statistics agency notes that families in the poorest decile had expenses exceeding their income (what they do to make ends meet is anybody's guess).

Expenditures consist mainly of food (because the poorest spend more on food, or 62.3%, as a portion of their earnings compared with the rich). If even P40 per individual does not meet daily needs, statistics that officially peg the individual poverty threshold at P30 (which is what we actually have) are putting it at a very low margin.

The government currently puts official poverty at 26.3% (or around 26 million Filipinos since were about a hundred million). It appears that number is bound to be a bit more higher.