Which jobs have the highest daily basic pay?

The Philippine Statistics Authority’s (PSA) quarterly edition of its Labor Force Survey (LFS) for April 2025 revealed which occupations in the country are receiving the highest daily pay.

Topping the list of the top major jobs in terms of daily wages were Managers, which received an average daily basic pay of P1,387, which increased from P1,356 in April 2024.

The PSA describes managers as those who “plan, direct, coordinate and evaluate the overall activities of enterprises, governments, and other organizations.”

The next on the list, receiving P1,321 in average daily wage, were Armed Forces Occupations. Their average daily basic pay grew from P1,185 in the same period last year.

Armed forces occupations included all jobs held by members of the armed forces, excluding those in civil defenses such as police and customs inspectors.

Professionals received the third highest daily basic pay at P1,214, up from P1,206 in April 2024.

Professionals are those who apply scientific or artistic concepts and theories in their task such as in the fields of sciences, social sciences, legal and social services, art, among others.

Technicians and Associate Professionals came in fourth with a salary of P873 per day, up from P793 year-on-year.

Technicians are those who perform technical tasks connected with application of scientific or artistic concepts, operational methods, and government or business regulations.

Clerical Support Workers came in fifth with an average daily pay of P747, up from P726 in the same month in 2024.

Clerical support work includes recording, organizing, storing information and performing clerical duties such as money-handling, travel arrangements, and appointments.

Jobs with lowest daily wages

The PSA’s April 2025 LFS also bared which occupations are receiving the lowest daily basic pay in the country. These were:

• Elementary occupations — P428, up from P403 last year
• Skilled agricultural, forestry, and fishery workers — P486, up from P439
• Service and sales workers — P552, up from P509
• Craft and related trades workers — P581, up from P541
• Plant and machine operators and assemblers — P585, up from P554

Elementary occupations involve simple routine tasks which require use of hand-held tools such as cleaning, restocking of supplies, basic maintenance, helping in the kitchen, sweeping streets, among others.

Skilled agricultural workers are those who prepare soil, sow, fertilize, harvest crops; breed, raise, tend, hunt animals; catch and cultivate fish and other aquatic life; and sell produce to markets, purchasers.

Service and sales workers’ tasks include housekeeping, preparing and serving food and beverages, providing basic health care, posing as models for advertising, hairdressing and beauty treatments, enforcing of law, selling goods at stalls and markets.

Craft and related trades are those who perform tasks applying specific knowledge and skills in constructing and maintaining buildings, making handicrafts, pottery and glass, making metal structures or welding and casting metal.

Plant and machine operators and assemblers are those who operate and monitor industrial and agricultural machinery and equipment.

The release of the April 2025 LFS came on the heels of the House of Representatives' approval on third and final reading of the proposed measure granting a P200-increase in the daily minimum wage for workers in the private sector.

The House version of the legislated wage hike offers a higher increase than the P100 approved by the Senate.

The House and the Senate will then have to reconcile the differences at the bicameral conference committee before transmitting the enrolled bill to Malacañang.

Congress has until June 13, 2025 or the last session day to reconcile their differing versions of the wage hike measure and ratify the reconciled version for the bill to be ready for the President’s signature. 

Otherwise, the measure has to be refiled in the next Congress.

However, business groups Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI), Employers Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP), and the Makati Business Club (MBC) have sounded the alarm on the inflationary and economic implications of the proposed legislation increasing the daily minimum wage for private sector workers in the country.

Malacañang earlier said that President Ferdinand ''Bongbong'' Marcos Jr. will look into the economic implications of the proposed increase in the minimum wage for workers. —AOL, GMA Integrated News