Many of my faithful readers here are not techno-geeks … which is fine, I don’t want to delve very deeply into “geekiness”
(by the way, if you are not a regular reader here, than do a favor for me and become one, just select one of the options from the subscription box in the side bar, just over there to the right of where you are looking … or subscribe to PhilFAQS by clicking here ..you will never be spammed … only the actual articles I write are distributed this way … thanks, Dave)
But even the less geeky in today’s world understand the acronym WYSIWYG … the acronym, and indeed technique that made the world wide web what it is today … What You See Is What You Get.
So what on earth is the acronym WYAFIWYG? Not such a common one, but still very simple and true … What You Ask For Is What You Get. There are as many views on requests, favors, prayers, deals with the devil and other ways to get what you ask for as there are people in this world, but one thing can be said to be true for anyone, any time. Be careful what you ask for, you just might get it!
Without a doubt the two most common inquiries I get here at PhilFAQS, where I try to answer the most commonly asked questions about living in the Philippines are:
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What is the cost to live in the Philippines?
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How do I find a job (or start a business) in the Philippines?
Now of course these two queries don’t always come from the same reader .. but given common sense and the law of averages I am sure many of you reading this have asked those questions together, or pretty much together in your own thoughts … it is unlikely you would be reading this if you hadn’t.
Here’s the rub, as Shakespeare was fond of saying. Low cost of living and jobs, especially good paying jobs, just do not go hand in hand. I’ve written on this subject often, but just yesterday I saw a great article in the Philippine Inquirer:
Business – Manila’s living costs, wages among the lowest – INQUIRER.net
I highly recommend you read it, especially if working in the Philippines is on your mind. I’ll discuss a few of the takeaways I got from the article below:
By the way, a big tip of the blog hat and a shoutout to Barry Ruth, another baby boomer type like yours truly who also lives right outside the Metro Manila area and is building out a very nice site about how an expat retiree lives in the Philippines. Barry saw this article and wrote about it, I was asleep at the switch and might never have seen it otherwise.
Article Takeaways:
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Manila is among the world’s cheapest cities, but is also one of those that pay the lowest hourly wages, according to a study comparing the purchasing power of 73 cities around the globe. A recent study by UBS, the Swiss banking giant, found that Manila, Kuala Lumpur, Delhi and Mumbai are the world’s least expensive cities based on a standardized basket of 122 goods and services.
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The world’s most expensive cities are Oslo, Zurich, Copenhagen, Geneva, Tokyo and New York.
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Copenhagen, Zurich, Geneva and New York also have the highest gross wages.
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On a global average, employees have to work 37 minutes to earn enough to pay for a Big Mac.
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Workers in Manila have to work 88 minutes to purchase the same product.
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If you are tired of me talking about Big Mac’s, the study also used a nonfood product — the iPod nano — to compare working hours and purchasing power.
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An average wage-earner in Zurich and New York could buy this gadget from an Apple store after nine hours at work. In other words, if you see a kid in a Western country with an iPod nano, his dad or mom worked a day or so to buy him the gadget.
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A worker in Manila has to work nearly 14 nine-hour days to get that iPod.
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Have you ever bought your kid an iPod? Are you planning on giving anything similarly priced this Christmas? In round numbers, if you quit your US job, which so many of you write and tell me how you hate, and move to the Philippines. And are lucky enough to find a job just like your US job that you up and quit, are you willing to work 14 times as long to pay for what are actually pretty ordinary items to most Western families?
I am not telling you not to move to the Philippines … hey, I did and it’s working great for me … but what I am saying is this continual search for finding jobs in the Philippines may not be where you want to focus your efforts.
There are much better ways to earn a living while living in the Philippines than finding a job here, and that’s for sure.
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Dave, the lower cost of living in the Philippines works for someone who retires here, and is living on Social Security, a pension, or savings. It works against a younger person who would like to live here, but must still earn a living. Most who relocate sucessfully are of our age group, war babies and baby boomers. The cost of goods and services that we depend on is much cheaper than in Western countries (medical treatment and medicines, and housing, as an example). Our dollars, pounds, yen, etc. go much further here than in our home country. Thank you for crediting me with the topic. It was first published locally in a major Manila newspaper, the Philippine Daily Inquirer, August 30, 2009. The full article can be found on my website, Mabuhay! Greetings from the Philippines.