That’s not enough to support oneself here in the US.
Apartment costs about 800 to 1,200 one bedroom for prime cities. 11.50x 40 hours x 52 weeks divided 12=1993.00 a month less taxes and other deductions of say 25 per cent that is net 1,400 a month take home pay.

utilities cost about 250 which include power,phone and other stuff.

Pwede yong kuwarto lang which may be rented for
500 dollars a month.

Practically people here are surviving in style because of credit cards.

Dollar earned, dollar spent. preho lang.

True true. I just hope the companies out there see the value of throwing those $11.50 an hour jobs our way.

Thanks for the breakdown Cathy. Always wanted to know how much was needed to ‘get by’ in the US of A.

Marc,
The reasons why many Filipinos get by with salaries that are only a few dollars over from the minimum are:
1. they belong to more than one wage earner in the family.
2. they share apartment/utilities/food with other Filipinos
3. they stay with relatives
4. they sub-leased rooms from Filipino homeowners.
5. they get extra job.

Caucasians can not do that. As you very well know, they become independent at the age of 18, they support themselves to College if ever they decide to get a degree on government financial assistance that they have to pay the moment they start working. Sometimes, it takes years to fully pay the loan and there is no way by which they can renege in payment. Hahabulin sila ng court.

Honestly, we can be very competitive, because our lower standard of living allows the Phils to provide equal (if not better) expertise to First World countries. We just need some marketing of what we can offer.

And The Ca t’s right, partially. Our collective mentality is both our greatest strength… and weakness.

Just a curious thought. How much can a startup company expect to pay an SEO per hour? Sorry if this is a stupid questions. I really have no idea. What’s the range?

I know SEO and SEM are very general terms. If I hire one, what kind of services can they offer? (seo/m, brand management, website promotion, pr, copywriting, etc?) Do they do all these things? Or do I need to hire additional resources to fill in the gaps.

Thanks for your insight.

$11.5 an hour….i don’t know any SEO who would want to work for that amount!