INTRODUCTION

problem

As the demand for commodities and basic necessities continue to increase year-by-year

due to the inevitable continuous increase in the national population, the prices of each means of

stable well-being does the same. Common needs such as food, shelter, electricity, water, are vital

for each individual’s survival in this day and age. Other necessities such as internet or other

means of communication, and transportation may be also included to the growing list of daily

needs. Venturing to a business and/or working on a public & private sector served as an option

for everyone to earn and to give only the best for their loved ones. Because of the problem on the

country’s minimum wage especially in the rural and/or provincial areas, most Filipinos pull

themselves far from their family and work in Metro Manila or in abroad as Overseas Filipino

Workers to give their family a more decent livelihood and a brighter future for their children.

As the increase in the price of necessities prevails, the minimum wage for the agriculture

(Php 454) and non-agriculture sector (Php 491) remains insufficient to fully utilize the needs of

the whole family. (NWPC, July 2017) That’s just for Metro Manila and it is worse for those who

are working outside the nation’s capital. As of now, the cost of living is way higher than the

currently imposed minimum wage for our workers in the private sector. A family would need

more minimum wage earners to satisfy their daily needs according to their family size. If this

continues to be the case, each family will continue to experience difficulties in achieving their

daily goals to have a decent and stable livelihood for each and every member. They will be

forced to establish alternative plans to alleviate that difficulty and to venture into different means

of earnipng money.
purpose

This thesis reports the findings of a thorough study that analyzes the relationship of two

variables, on whether the said minimum wage of construction workers have any impact on their

daily budgeting, meeting their daily financial needs as a family. Emphasis is placed on giving a

concrete answer to what is the impact of the imposed minimum wage of construction workers –

to their families – on the process of daily budgeting, as well as whether or not they actually meet

the poverty threshold, to assess quantifiable information surrounding the families’

countermeasures.

Scope

The scope of this research focused mainly on the assessment of the imposed minimum

wage of the respondents and the daily budgeting of their families. It is centered on the

respondents' respective families' countermeasures and budgeting in order to meet their daily

financial needs.