Filipino Nurses, Medical Technologists Earn The Least Among Asean Peers; Those In Singapore Earn Up To More Than P200,000 Monthly

Filipino registered nurses and medical technologists pale by a wide margin in terms of earnings when compared to their peers in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), according to a study by iPrice Group.

A recent study conducted by the information aggregator on the salaries of experienced frontliners in six countries within the ASEAN region showed that experienced nurses in the Philippines earn P40,381 per month while medical technologists get P29,444 per month.

This salary level is around 57 percent lower than the average salary of the next lowest-paid nurses in the region: Vietnamese nurses who take home P63,200 per month. On the opposite end of the spectrum, nurses in Singapore are paid P236,000 monthly.

Medical technologists in the Philippines, meanwhile, also get less than their next lowest-paid counterparts in the region – also Vietnamese who take home P57,000 per month. The highest-earning medical technologists in the region are also those in Singapore who take home P210,000 per month.

The study covered the salaries of mid-level and experienced frontliners in six fields: registered nurses, medical technologists, delivery truck drivers/helpers, supermarket clerks, warehouse workers and security guards.

Compared were salaries in the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Ban on deployment

In April, the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) Governing Board issued Resolution No. 09, suspending the overseas deployment of medical and allied health workers due to the continuing public health emergency arising from the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic.

The IATF issued Resolution No. 64 on Aug. 17 supporting POEA’s Resolution No. 09,
“considering the continuing state of public health emergency”  in the country.

On Aug. 20, presidential spokesman Harry Roque repeated that the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases had allowed nurses and health workers with existing contracts as of March 8 as well as those bearing overseas employment certificates (OEC) from the POEA to leave the country to pursue their careers.

This decision was reached in April, but it was reiterated following appeals from the Philippine Nurses Association and some 600 nurses for a reconsideration of the policy to totally bar them from leaving while the country battles the pandemic.

The Department of Health and other hospitals and healthcare facilities have been enjoined by the IATF to hire these medical and allied health workers to supplement their workforce.

 On the other hand, while the salaries of Filipino frontliners in other fields are still at the lower end of the spectrum, some of them earn more than their Vietnamese counterparts.

These include supermarket clerks who earn P13,300 per month on the average, security guards who take home P15,400 monthly, warehouse workers who take home P14,500 pay or 54 percent more than their Vietnamese counterparts, and delivery truck drivers/helpers who receive P23,300 per month.

But this does not mean they enjoy a better standard of living because of the rising cost of living in the Philippines.

The average household spending of Filipinos is P19,917 per month.

“We can see how many frontliners struggle to make ends meet while risking their lives,” iPrice Group observed.

Another consideration in the study is the average basket size for online purchases of essential goods in each country in ASEAN, which have gained popularity amid the pandemic.

This year, Filipinos’ average basket size for online purchases is about P1,300 per month, which is already 10 percent of the average monthly salary of supermarket clerks.

In Malaysia, however, the overage online basket of P2,336 is only around six percent of the average salary of a supermarket clerk estimated at P37,000 monthly.

“Looking at this data and comparison, we can have an idea of how much more comfortable Malaysians’ quality of life may be compared to Filipinos,” the firm noted.

For the study, iPrice recorded all the average salaries from Economic Research Institute-supported firm Salary Expert.

Salary Expert bases the figures on salary survey data collected directly from employers and anonymous employees.

The exchange rates, meanwhile, were based on Morningstar exchange rate as of Aug. 25.

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