TOTAL 6-MONTH FAMILY INCOME IN 1999 ESTIMATED AT 896 BILLION PESOS

• The total income of all families increased by 6.7 percent to P896.4 billion (in current prices) during the six-month period from April to September 1999 from P 839.9 billion a year earlier. On the other hand, total expenditures of all families rose by 15.3% to P767 billion for the same six-month period in 1999 from P665 billion in 1998.
• Families belonging to the first to fourth income deciles pooled P 104 billion, which was an increase of P 9.88 billion at current prices or 10.5 percent compared to P94.1 billion in 1998.

SLIGHT DISCERNIBLE CHANGE IN SHARE OF FAMILY INCOME

• This also meant that the "lowest 40 percent" of the families earned only 11.6 percent of the total income during the six-month period in 1999.

In 1998, the families in the "lowest 40 percent" earned 11.2 percent of the total six-month income then.

• Actually, 80 percent of families (first to eighth deciles) earned a combined 44 percent of total income, only slightly larger than the 39.3 percent accruing to the "top 10 percent" families. In 1998, the "80 percent" families had total income share of 43 percent compared to the 40.4 percent of the "upper ten percent" families.
• Also, in 1999, the "top 20 percent" families earned 14 times more than the "lowest 20 percent" (P502.1 billion vs. P35.8 billion). In 1998, the "top 20 percent" families earned 15 times more than the "lowest 20 percent" (P478.5 billion vs. P32.1 billion).
• There was a slight discernible change in the distribution of family income as shown by the Gini coefficient of 0.4958 in the same period in 1999 which was down from 0.5059 during part of the crisis period in April to September 1998.

REAL INCOME UP BY 0.5 PERCENT

• Adjusted for inflation, the six-month family income in April to September 1999 was estimated at P844 billion, which was an increase of 0.5 percent from P840 billion during the same period in 1998.

AVERAGE INCOME AND EXPENDITURES SLOWER

• There were reportedly 14.7 million families in the Philippines in 1999. On the average, each family earned P60,788 at current prices during the six month period, increasing by 4.0 percent from P58,442 in 1998. In real prices, average income declined by 2.0 percent to P57,248 from the 1998 level.
• On the other hand, average expenditures amounted to P52,014 at current prices and P48,986 at real prices for the six-month period.

MORE FAMILIES DISSAVE

• Income less expenditures equals saving. When expenditures exceed income, this results in dissaving. In the reference period in 1998, families in the first 3 deciles (or the bottom 30 percent) had dissaving. In 1999, the first 5 deciles (or the bottom half) already dissaved.

WAGES AND SALARIES MAJOR SOURCE OF INCOME

• Almost half (46.6 percent) of the total income came from wages and salaries amounting to P417.9 billion in 1999. However, the share of wages and salaries decreased from 47.4 percent in 1998.
• More income came from other sources in 1999 with 27.6 percent compared to 26.2 percent in 1998. Total income from other sources which include among others, gifts received, imputed rent, was estimated at P247.8 billion in 1999.
• Income derived from entrepreneurial activities amounting to P210.3 billion ranked third with a 23.5 percent share in the distribution of sources of income.
• Among the lowest income strata, most of the income of families from the first to the third decile came from entrepreneurial activities. On the other hand, those belonging to the higher income strata obtained a bigger share of their incomes from wages and salaries.

INCOME FROM STABLE SOURCES WEAKEN

• Wages and salaries and entrepreneurial incomes adjusted for inflation showed declines of 1.1 percent and 3.9 percent respectively.

Source: Income and Employment Statistics Division
               National Statistics Office
               Republic of the Philippines