Salaries in PH to increase by 6.8% in 2014, says survey

MANILA, Philippines—Salaries in the Philippines are expected to increase by an average of 6.8 percent this year, according to a survey conducted by professional services company Towers Watson.

A competitive salary, however, may not be enough for employees to stay loyal with their company.

“While the Philippines’ salary increase rates have stabilized at a single digit level, between 6 and 7 percent in the past couple of years, workforce retention is an issue that continues to haunt employers,” said Vangie Daquilanea, Data Services manager at Towers Watson Philippines.

“With the growing economy and the strengthening confidence of foreign investors, we see an increasing number of companies setting up their operations in the country and even expanding operations outside of Metro Manila. This contributes to the war for talent and feeds on the young workforce’s preference for being mobile and dynamic,” she said.

“This has becomes quite a big issue with employers, challenging the effectiveness of their current retention programs,” Daquilanea added.

The Towers Watson 2013-14 Asia-Pacific Salary Budget Planning Report also supported the view that for companies in Asia-Pacific, finding and retaining suitably skilled staff remains a challenge.

“The expected raises for production or blue-collar workers in China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, South Korea and Thailand show growing pressure to find such staff,” said Sambhav Rakyan, Data Services practice leader, Asia-Pacific at Towers Watson. “We hear from large-scale employers—often manufacturers—in these markets that staff hiring and retention is a constant challenge,” Rakyan said.

In other markets, such as Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam, bigger increases are expected in the ranks of the middle management, reflecting the relative shortage of that skills mix in those markets, the company added.

Salaries across Asia-Pacific are seen rising by an average of 6.9 percent this year amid stronger economic growth in the region, according to the Tower Watson study.

This forecast, while similar to the average salary increases seen in 2013, is, however, lower than the earlier 2014 projection of 7.1 percent.

“In most cases, we’ve revised our salary forecasts modestly lower from our forecasts back in October 2013 mostly because clients now have a much better sense of the 2014 actual budgets,” said Rakyan.

The survey, conducted online in February this year, drew on approximately 2,000 sets of responses covering 18 countries in Asia-Pacific.