NEWS | Companies in the Philippines plan to raise pay by about 5.3 percent next year, a little more than the 5 percent raise workers actually got this year. That is according to a new study from Aon, which looked at more than 1,200 companies across Southeast Asia. Consulting and service companies are planning the biggest jump, going from under 5 percent this year to almost 7 percent next year. Banks and financial companies are being more careful, planning a smaller raise of just over 4 percent.
These raises are trying to fix a problem that money alone has not solved. This year, 17 out of every 100 workers in the Philippines left their jobs, the second highest rate in the whole region. That happened even after companies already gave a similar raise back in 2025. Right now, about 4 out of 10 companies plan to hire more people next year, while almost the same number plan to hire fewer. Nobody really agrees on what is coming next.
BMN thinks something bigger is going on underneath these numbers. The people behind this study say companies are basically choosing between two things, paying people more, or spending that same money on AI tools that could eventually do some of that work instead. That makes these raises feel less like companies trying to win over workers, and more like companies buying themselves time while they figure out how much AI can replace later.
That matters a lot, because a raise this small barely covers the rising cost of living. It also has not stopped skilled workers from leaving the country for better paying jobs elsewhere, which is the exact problem these raises were supposed to fix.
If companies keep giving the same small raise every year while workers keep leaving at this rate, is this actually helping keep people, or is it just the cost companies are willing to pay while they wait and see what AI takes over next?
