ILOILO City — The government has begun gathering wage, employment and workplace data from 463 establishments across Western Visayas to provide fresh benchmarks for salary policies, labor-market needs and workers’ welfare.
The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) launched simultaneous data collection for the 2026 Occupational Wages Survey (OWS) and 2026 Integrated Survey on Labor and Employment (ISLE) on September 14.
The surveys cover establishments in Aklan, Antique, Capiz, Guimaras and Iloilo provinces, as well as Iloilo City.
Beyond determining how much workers are being paid, the twin surveys are expected to provide a broader picture of the region’s labor market, including occupational shortages and surpluses, outsourcing arrangements, worker training, productivity programs, and occupational injuries and diseases.
The OWS will generate wage statistics used in formulating policies on salary administration, wage determination, prices and collective bargaining negotiations.
Among its primary outputs is the Average Monthly Occupational Wage Rates of Selected Occupations, a key statistical indicator the Philippine government regularly produces under the International Monetary Fund’s Special Data Dissemination Standard.
The OWS will collect establishment profiles, including their main economic activities, major goods or services, legal and economic structures, business registration, and registered names and addresses.
It will also gather data on workforce composition and employment by worker classification, as well as total basic pay, allowances and bonuses of full-time, time-rated workers across major occupational groups.
Meanwhile, the ISLE will examine not only employment levels but also the quality and conditions of work in establishments.
Its findings will serve as benchmarks in monitoring Sustainable Development Goal 8 on Decent Work and Economic Growth and in assessing progress toward better labor conditions.
The ISLE will gather information on workforce demographics, staffing and subcontracting or outsourcing arrangements.
It will also identify occupational shortages and surpluses across industries, providing data that could help determine where employers are having difficulty finding workers and where excess labor supply exists.
The survey will further cover job-related training, Occupational Safety and Health policies and practices, occupational injuries and diseases, productivity improvement programs, and employee gain-sharing arrangements.
Field data collection for both surveys will continue until October 2026.
The PSA expects to complete processing of the information afterward, with the final survey results scheduled for public release in August 2027.
“The PSA encourages all sampled establishments to actively participate in the surveys by providing accurate and truthful information for data-driven labor and development policies and programs,” PSA Region 6 stated./PN
