Under fire for its Php10,000-gaffe, the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) is now saying, through Secretary Ernesto Pernia, that the cost of decent living for an ordinary family is Php42,000.

This admission by the country’s chief economist on the amount required by a Filipino household to afford a decent living has underlined the need and urgency of a substantial wage hike, including the proposed Php750-national minimum wage, which ironically Pernia and other economic managers of the Duterte administration are opposing.

Using data from the National Wages and Productivity Commission (NWPC), it appears that current wages in the country could only meet as low as 13% to just 27% of NEDA’s estimated cost of decent living.

In the National Capital Region (NCR), for instance, the daily minimum wage is just Php475 (for retail/service establishments with 15 or less workers) to Php512 (all other non-agriculture industries). These translate to a monthly income of about Php10,331.25 to Php11,136.00.

(Note: These estimates are based on the assumption that there are 261 work days a year or about 21.75 days a month. It excludes Saturdays and Sundays plus an extra day to account for a leap year. See here.)

This means that the minimum wage in NCR is equivalent to only 25% to 27% of NEDA’s estimated cost of decent living. Put another way, an ordinary household in NCR needs four minimum wage earners to afford a decent living.

The situation is much worse in regions outside NCR where the minimum wage is way lower. In the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), for example, the minimum wage is a paltry Php270 (agriculture) to Php280 (non-agriculture) per day. Per month, the minimum wage in the region is about Php5,872.50 to Php6,090.00, which meets a meager 14% to 15% of the cost of decent living.

And worse, amid ever increasing prices and rising inflation and additional tax burden such as those under the TRAIN (Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion) Law, the already meager wages of Filipino workers are further being eroded.

Meanwhile, the proposed Php750-national minimum wage is even less than 40% of NEDA’s cost of decent living. The workers are asking much less of what their families need to live decently and they are still being deprived.