Arellano University

Jose Rizal Campus

College of Arts and Sciences
S.Y. 2018-2019

EVERYDAY LIFE OF AN UNDERPAID

By

Aileen S. Angeles
Patrick Henry S. Lazaro

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 Arellano University
Jose Rizal Campus
College of Arts and Sciences
S.Y. 2018-2019

Introduction

Based on statistics displays the share of employees who are underpaid in the

Philippines from 2005 to 2015. In 2015, approximately 11.9 % of employees in the Philippines

were significantly underpaid. By legal definition, underpaid employees are workers whose hourly

basic pay was below two-thirds of the median hourly basic pay.

YEAR PERCENTAGE OF
UNDERPAID EMPLOYEES
2015 11.9%
2006 12.7%
2014 12.7%
2005 12.8%
2007 13.8%
2011 14.3%
2012 14.4%
2010 14.5%
2013 14.5%
2008 14.6%
2009 14.9%

Underpaid is against the law but some private companies still practice

underpayment. Underpayment still exists because employees or soon-to-be-employees choose

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 Arellano University
Jose Rizal Campus
College of Arts and Sciences
S.Y. 2018-2019

to be underpaid than being jobless. Especially fresh graduates, they need the job even if they are

going to be underpaid just to acquire work experience.

Based on The Labor Code of the Philippines Presidential Degree No. 442 Article 124

Standards/Criteria for minimum wage fixing-

The regional minimum wages to be established by the Regional Board shall be as nearly adequate

as is economically feasible to maintain the minimum standards of living necessary for the health,

efficiency and general well-being of the employees within the framework of the national

economic and social development program. In the determination of such regional minimum

wages, the Regional Board shall, among other relevant factors, consider the following:

(a) The demand for living wages;

(b) Wage adjustment vis-A –vis the consumer price index;

(c) The cost of living and changes or increases therein;

(d) The needs of workers and their families;

(e) The need to induce industries to invest in the countryside;

(f) Improvements in standards of living;

(g) The prevailing wage levels;

(h) Fair return of the capital invested and capacity to pay of employers;

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 Arellano University
Jose Rizal Campus
College of Arts and Sciences
S.Y. 2018-2019

(i) Effects on employment generation and family income; and

(j) The equitable distribution of income and wealth along the imperatives of economic and social

development.

If President Duterte can have his way, he should be paid P1.5 million a month for

the work he’s been doing. Of course, everyone can gripe about being overworked and underpaid,

but hearing it from the President himself highlights the discontent in most of us.

The Constitution prescribes a monthly salary for the president as the country’s

highest-ranking official, but that provision is contemporaneous with the times and milieu in

which the Charter was written. Common sense dictates that the figure should not remain

stationary in the face of the ever-changing realities of inflation and devaluation of the national

currency. Otherwise, no person in his or her right mind would attempt to become president,

right? An executive order signed by then President Benigno Aquino III in 2016 pegs Mr. Duterte’s

monthly pay at P298,083.

The truth is no one has the sole right to gripe, especially nowadays. The

times are not exactly the best for both capital and labor. Capitalists invest so much in

business and the foreign exchange rate goes berserk in a heartbeat and oil prices soar,

bringing along the costs of production and raw materials. The sense of economic

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 Arellano University
Jose Rizal Campus
College of Arts and Sciences
S.Y. 2018-2019

stability so crucial to the financial environment routinely takes a blow from the threat

of military conflict, nationwide transport strikes, impeachment dramas, or plain

politics attempting to bend the rules of banking and finance.

If capitalists have earned the right to complain, more so the poor wage-

earner. The problem is that one is forced to exert so much more effort than necessary

to do one’s job; extraneous circumstances have made monumental tasks out of

normal activities and tend to deplete one’s energy long before one can actually get

down to work. For example, for commuters forced to disembark from a stalled MRT

coach or those constantly trapped in ground-level traffic, the daily grind to and from

workplaces has become more exhausting than the work itself.

As the men and women in the street are compelled to complain about

pay out of desperation, most people in the government’s highest levels must realize

that they least deserve to complain, out of delicadeza. Let’s not debate if taxpayers

are paying them right. Rather, let’s not overlook the fact that it is taxpayers who

ultimately pay the price for every miscalculation, missed opportunity, or undelivered

election promise. It is taxpayers who ultimately bear the consequences of every tax

adjustment and each political accommodation that results in a Mocha Uson, a Robin

Padilla, or a sweet-talking image consultant getting hired for high-paying government

positions.

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 Arellano University
Jose Rizal Campus
College of Arts and Sciences
S.Y. 2018-2019

This country is spending so much more than what goes into the salary of

the President, which he deems a pittance given his declared “two wives.” Maybe he’s

right, but the expenses—and excesses—of this government, beginning with the high

maintenance cost of bureaucratic fat, to be paid by taxpayers, should also be

considered.

The truth is, we should brace for more suffering in the long run, long after

the administration has changed hands. The class suit that would arise from the

extrajudicial killings, as well as the cost of recovering Philippine territory from China

and paying off our debts to Beijing should bleed the future economy.

At the end of the day, the President’s gripe over his pay exacerbates the

general sense of discontent and rubs the average working stiff the wrong way, as it

illustrates the difference between him and ordinary mortals like us. If an average

employee with not much of a performance record to speak of gripes about being

overworked and underpaid, that’s not the right way to get a raise, but a sure way to

get fired.

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 Arellano University
Jose Rizal Campus
College of Arts and Sciences
S.Y. 2018-2019

Statement of the Problem

The study focuses on the life of employees with underpayment. Therefore, the

aim of this research is to open the eyes of employers to pay what is just. It also intends to find

out the problems of the employees in their everyday budget. The researchers tends for the

participants to answer the following semi-structured interview questions raised to them.

1.) Is your salary enough to support your family to make end meet?

2.) Have you considered looking for a better paying job?

3.) How do you adjust to everyday living despite of your being underpaid?

4.) What are the things that you buy or pay for that causes you shortage in money?

Methodology

In this study, the researchers used qualitative research to discuss the problem of

employees. The researchers used semi-structured interview in gathering raw data. Semi-

structured interview is best used when you will not get more than one chance to interview

someone and when you will be sending several interviews on the field to collect data.

Participants

The researchers chose five (5) participants to interview. Three (3) of them are

single while the other two (2) are married. This research is based on the monthly salary of each

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 Arellano University
Jose Rizal Campus
College of Arts and Sciences
S.Y. 2018-2019

participant. Participant number one (1) single and currently working at a BPO Company. The

range of her salary is from Twenty thousand (Php 20,000.00) Pesos to Twenty five thousand (Php

25,000.00) Pesos. Participant number two (2) is single and is working in a bank. His salary is

ranging from Fifteen Thousand (Php 15,000.00) Pesos to Twenty thousand (Php 20,000.00) Pesos.

Participant number three (3) is married and have a child. He is working at a BPO Company and

his salary is ranging from Twenty thousand (Php 20,000.00) to Twenty five Thousand (Php

25,000.00) Pesos. Participant number four (4) is single and her salaray is ranging from Twenty

five thousand (Php 25,000.00) Pesos to Thirty thousand (Php 30,000.00) Pesos. She is currently

working in a private company. Participant number five (5) is married and have two (2) children.

His salary is ranging from Twenty five thousand (Php 25,000.00) Pesos to Thirty thousand (Php

30,000.00) Pesos. He is currently working in a Hotel and Casino.

Procedure

The researchers is guided by the semi-structured questions in aaking the

participants about their personal and working experience in order to come up with the result of

this research. Semi-structured interviews allows individuals to disclose thoughts and feeling for

which the researchers kept in private. In gathering the data needed, each of the participant was

asked and the questions were sent through Facebook’s Messenger application for them to proof

read the questions before answering on the scheduled actual interview.

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 Arellano University
Jose Rizal Campus
College of Arts and Sciences
S.Y. 2018-2019

Result and Discussion

In this part of the study, the researchers provides the results and discussions of

the interview in each participants. This study aims to have a better understanding in the

problem of the employees about the underpayment. Underpayment is against the law but

almost no one is against it.

Based on the participants, very few of them is able to meet their everyday needs

even some of them are single and doesn’t have any obligation. Two of the married participants

struggles to cope up with everyday living. And daily, the cost of goods increases. All of them

especially the two married participants spends on foods, transportation, electric and water bill,

rent for apartment/condominium, baby needs etc. That’s why they choose to be thrifty. They

ride jeepney instead of taxi, they use prepaid instead of postpaid, they bring packed lunch to

work instead of going to fast food restaurants. Through the interview, they mentioned that

they do online selling like pastries, clothes, make-ups etc. One of them sidelines as an event

organizer. One of the married participant, is an part-time real state agent. Some of them

consistent applying for a job with bigger salary.

Recommendation

Based on the results of the study, the researchers therefore recommended that:

improve the quality and quantity of our local rice farms so that they don’t have to import and

produce locally that can meet the demand for the cost of rice to decrease. The government

should increase the minimum wage and benefits of an employees.

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 Arellano University
Jose Rizal Campus
College of Arts and Sciences
S.Y. 2018-2019

References

https://opinion.inquirer.net/111467/overworked-and-

underpaid?utm_expid=.XqNwTug2W6nwDVUSgFJXed.1