Filipino mean earnings sit mid-pack in PPP terms — and the statutory minimum wage is the lowest among peers when you take the lowest provincial non-ag floor.

Wage-salaried employment is high at 63.9%. Price level is mid-pack (PLI 33.2). Housing price-to-income is a gap for all eleven. Malaysia’s mean earnings are 2020. Singapore’s PLI is a ceiling, not a wage story. Don’t treat the PH minimum as a national average floor without the provincial caveat.

What the comparison shows

PPP-adjusted earnings help compare purchasing power, while a statutory minimum describes a legal wage floor. The Philippine minimum in this pack is the lowest provincial non-agricultural floor, so it is not representative of every worker or location. The wage-and-salary employment share describes employment structure rather than the adequacy of pay.

How to interpret the findings

Singapore’s earnings observation is a median, unlike the mean observations elsewhere, and Malaysia’s mean earnings are older. Those distinctions limit a simple league table. With housing price-to-income missing for all eleven countries, the evidence cannot establish which country offers the most affordable overall cost of living.

Coverage and context

Read row years and coverage notes; missing observations are not zero.

The table is a comparison of observations, not a combined ranking. The topic guide includes the wider SEA-11 coverage, interactive charts and full methodology.