Industry Satisfaction
The State of UX in the Philippines, Section 5
Salaries and Salary Satisfaction
According to recent statistics by the Department of Budget and Management (2021), the budget expenditures for economic development in the Greater Metro Manila region are significantly greater than any other region in the Philippines. This tells us that most industries are highly concentrated in this region as well. UX is no exception to this. For example, 53.59% of our survey respondents come from the National Capital Region (NCR) alone. These figures potentially contribute to some economic disparities (i.e., income, benefits, job opportunities). In this section, we examined the salaries of UX practitioners divided by the major Philippine Island groups to paint a clearer picture of the UX salaries in the Philippines.
Luzon
First, we examine Luzon, the largest island group in the Philippines. Luzon holds 73.85% of survey respondents in the Philippines, and where NCR (53.59% of total respondents) is located. It is the region that houses the most economic hubs of the Philippines. 83.60% of the UX practitioners who provided their salary to this research are based in Luzon.
Based on Fig 18, UX practitioners earning between Php 25,001 to Php 50,000 (34.18%) have the highest number of responses, followed by Php 10,001 to Php 25,000 at (21.52%). The most common job titles for these participants are UX Designer/Experience Designer (10.13%), UI Artist/Designer (8.23%), UX Manager/Design Lead (7.59%), Web Developer (6.33%), and Visual Designer (5.70%).
Results also showed that 5.06% earns below minimum wage receiving Php 10,000 or below their monthly salary. The participants who earned below minimum wage worked on companies with 10–99 employees or even smaller teams of 1–9, while the rest were freelancers. Most of them just started with their UX careers, with 75% having less than 1 year of work experience, while 25% had 1–4 years of UX work experience. Their job titles were Web/UI Developer, Graphic Designer, Web/UI Designer, UX Developer, and Content Strategist.
Of the participants who earn between Php 150,001 to Php 400,000 (5.70%), 33.33% had 5 to 10 years work experience, while 33.33% has more than 10 years of work experience. Additionally, most of them worked in large organizations with 100 or more employees. Their most common job titles were UX Manager/Design Lead, UX Strategist, Product Designer, and Web Developer. Some indicated their job titles as Product Manager and Product Owner. The industries they work in are Business/Professional Services, Consulting agencies, Finance (Banking and Fintech), FMCG (Fast-Moving Consumer Goods), and Media. It’s interesting to note that 44.44% of them work in startup companies.
A total of 34.81% (Agree — 29.11%, Strongly Agree — 5.70%) of participants agreed that they were satisfied with their UX salaries. Aligned with the industry salaries listed by PayScale, some participants perceived that their UX salaries are above average than working for other industries in the Philippines. However, despite enjoying this above-average salary in the country, it still pales compared to the UX salaries overseas (UX Designer Salaries) — a statement that is true to any profession in the Philippines.
It’s fairly high for a fresh grad. It’s enough to live by but is small compared to international “standards”. I could be doing the same thing but earning more outside the country.
Most respondents (42.40%) are neither satisfied nor dissatisfied with their current salaries. However, results revealed that 16.46% have disagreed that they are satisfied, and 6.33% strongly disagreed that they are satisfied with their current salaries.
[The salary is] not in proportion to responsibility, compared to outside rates. My salary is considered above average in the PH, but I personally feel like I can earn more [except] there are people who [don’t] appreciate UX. I’m earning the same as when I was [a team of one], I’m now managing a team of 4.
Visayas
Then we look at the Visayas, located in the central part of the Philippine archipelago, which also holds 7 large and 700 smaller islands.
This region holds 9.52% of our survey respondents. Most of the participants from here earned salaries between Php 25,001 to Php 50,000 (38.89%) and Php 10,001 to Php 25,000 monthly (22.22%). The trend for this region is partly similar with Luzon other than no respondents earning within the Php 150,001 to Php 400,000 salary range. Results showed that 50% of the participants started in the industry with less than a year of experience, while 16.67% had 1 to 4 years of UX work experience. The most common job titles from these participants are Web Developer (27.78%), UX Designer/Experience Designer (16.67%), and Web Designer (11.11%).
Some participants reported earning between Php 50,001 to Php 80,000 at 22.22%, while 11.11% earned Php 80,001 to Php 150,000. Their job titles are Web Developer, UX Designer/Experience Designer, and UX Manager/Design Lead. Most of them had 5–10 years of work experience, and one participant had more than 10 years of experience. It’s worth noting that the Web Developers who earned in these salary ranges indicated that they had less than 1 year of UX work experience.
Overall, the most mentioned industries the participants worked at are Computers/IT/Software/Intel, Consulting agency, and Business/Professional Services. In addition, 22.22% indicated that their company is a startup.
44.44% of participants indicated that they were neither satisfied nor dissatisfied with their current salaries in terms of salary satisfaction. 16.67% (Disagree — 11.11%, Strongly Disagree — 5.56%) of participants disagreed that they were satisfied. On the other hand, 38.89% were satisfied with their salaries. No respondents answered being strongly satisfied with their salaries.
Mindanao
Lastly, we have Mindanao, the second largest island in the country located at the southernmost part of the archipelago.
UX practitioners residing in Mindanao who participated in this survey reached 6.88%. Most of them earned between Php 10,001 to Php 25,000 (38.47%), while 30.77% earned Php 25,001 to Php 50,000 per month. While some participants earned between Php 50,001 to Php 80,000 (15.38%) and below Php 10,000 (15.38%).
The most common job titles of the participants from Mindanao are Product Designer (30.77%) and UI Artist/Designer (15.38%). Most of them worked in the Computers/IT/Software/Intel industry and Business/Professional services industry. It is worth noting that 46.15% of them indicated that the company they’re working for is a startup, and 23% are working as freelancers.
In terms of salary satisfaction, 46.16% of participants were neither satisfied nor dissatisfied with their current salaries. 15.38% indicated that they were strongly dissatisfied, and 7.69% indicated they were dissatisfied with their salaries. Some of them voiced out issues on how challenging their UX job is. For example, some roles involve doing dual roles such as design and development while still getting low salaries.
I feel like my salary is too small for the job I am [in] right now. The process of my work is very tough and challenging.
Another respondent shared how they had encountered this challenge in the two companies they had worked in post-college:
I’ve worked under two companies since I finished college, and both jobs required me to do practically all of the UX research processes, crafting the UI design, up to implementing the design myself while still being underpaid. Most software development companies hire people that have developer and designer skills, give us dual roles, and have large skill expectations while still being paid a small amount.
On the other hand, 30.77% of participants agreed that they were satisfied with their current salaries. Similar to responses from the Visayas, no respondents answered being strongly satisfied with their salaries.
Career Satisfaction
Aside from salary satisfaction, we inquired about their perceived levels of satisfaction in their overall careers. Unfortunately, aside from a general explanation of respondents’ answers, we did not further specify any factors to allow a more open-ended evaluation of this area.
As shown in Fig 24, most participants at 38.66% agreed that they are satisfied, and 18.56% strongly agreed that they are satisfied with their UX careers. On the other hand, 11.34% disagreed that they are satisfied, while only 2.58% strongly disagreed that they are satisfied with their UX career. In comparison, 28.87% of participants were neutral towards this question.
Participants who agreed that they were satisfied with their UX careers shared that they love their work. They also enjoy that a UX role challenges them to learn new things and provides plenty of career growth and development opportunities. In addition, a few participants indicated that their company or team has recently recognized the value of UX. This partially contributed to their overall satisfaction.
I’m working with talented and passionate people towards a meaningful goal. Still learning a lot as well and am one step closer to where I really want to be.
On the other hand, interview participants who disagreed that they were satisfied with their UX careers usually came from companies that lacked appreciation and understanding of UX as a practice.
Another reason participants disagreed that they were satisfied with their UX career was the unclear expectations from companies they worked with and had to fill multiple or generalist roles in UX.
It isn’t easy to find specialized roles that don’t expect you to be a UX generalist at one point.
In the previous section on The UX Workplace, we looked at respondents’ job titles and responsibilities. It was revealed that several respondents have generalist or combined roles. This might imply (but needs further study) that those with the generalist or broader roles tend to agree less with being satisfied with their current careers. This might be due to juggling multiple tasks or not having the time to hone specific UX skills.
I am satisfied [with] pursuing the career path. I am dissatisfied with my current stress of juggling multiple roles in the company to keep the practice afloat.
Another issue that was revealed in the study was accessibility to UX training and education. There is a lack of mentorship and support, such as conference allowances from companies. Some participants from Mindanao emphasized the need for more guidance, training, and education.
I believe that there [are] so many things I need to study and learn [when] it comes to UX Design. That is why I am seeking communities, groups, and education to immerse myself in this industry.
Findings
Disparities in income and career opportunities are apparent in the findings, where most of the participants resided mainly in Luzon, specifically NCR, while responses were low for Visayas and Mindanao. This aligns with results from a random UX job search on LinkedIn will show most opportunities located mainly in NCR (NCR — 122, Cebu — 12). This indicates that UX as an industry in these regions is in an earlier development stage than NCR. Regarding their salaries, fewer people in Visayas and Mindanao are earning in the higher tiers of salaries relative to the years of experience and sample size.
Overall, most UX professionals in the country earned on average between Php 25,001 to Php 50,000 (33.68%) and followed by Php 10,001 to Php 25,000 (22.28%) per month. This trend is similar all over the country. Regardless of region, the starting salaries of the participants with less than 1 year of UX job experience usually are between Php 25,001 to Php 50,000 (42.62%), Php 10,000 to Php 25,000 (32.79%), and Php 10,000 and below (13.11%).
Higher-range salary earners are more common in NCR, where bigger companies are usually located.
Higher-range salary earners are more common in NCR, where bigger companies are usually located. 10.76% of these Luzon-based participants earned higher salary ranges above Php 80,001 to Php 150,000, while 5.70% earned above Php 150,000. They are more experienced UX professionals or managers with at least 5–10 years or more work experience and belonging to larger organizations with more than 100 employees. In terms of education, 80.77% of practitioners hold bachelor’s degrees, while only 1 participant holds a master’s degree. Most of them supplemented their knowledge with non-degree UX programs such as certificates, workshops, and bootcamps. The most mentioned programs were from Human Factors International (HFI), Interaction Design Foundation (IxDF), and Coursera.
Some participants perceived that the UX salary rates are relatively higher than average compared to other jobs or industries in the Philippines (PayScale). This is one of the reasons that 34.7% agreed that they are satisfied with their current salaries. Although being a UX practitioner in the Philippines is more financially rewarding, participants pointed out that the salary rates here still pale compared to the industry standards overseas (UX Designer Salaries).
Discussion of salaries is often considered taboo (Kelly, 2019); this is prevalent in the Philippines and other countries. This might be the reason why participants mostly chose neutral responses to the questions regarding their salary satisfaction. Despite this, some participants from different regions voiced being overworked, underpaid, and handling multiple roles. This is one of the probable reasons for low agreeable scores in both salary satisfaction (22.28%) and career satisfaction (13.92%).
Since UX as an industry in the Philippines is still relatively new, only a few companies fully understand UX’s value.
Since UX as an industry in the Philippines is still relatively new, only a few companies fully understand UX’s value. Furthermore, plenty of companies in other regions do not fully understand the role of a UX professional. These issues raised by the participants stem from the prevalence of generalist roles. Unfortunately, this also leads to a lack of development support for UX teams, letting UX practitioners single-handedly hold responsibilities that several specialized roles should manage.
This begs us to ask how we can support UX professionals and promote more awareness of UX in the country in cities outside Greater Metro Manila, and especially in Visayas and Mindanao?
What’s next
Team Acknowledgement
The UXPH Research Team conducts studies to further understand and analyze the User Experience landscape in the Philippines. Our team’s goal is to share helpful reports that describe User Experience and how it is adopted across various industries in the country. We aim for these reports to be a reference point for practitioners and companies to adopt a more data-driven understanding of the industry.
Authors
Rie Helene (Lindy) Hernandez, Charlotte Mae Sia Efren, Claudine San Diego, Janyl Tamayo, Tyrone Sta. Maria, Stella Pangilinan, Jentz Rabacio, Jen Teves, and Jordan Aiko Deja
Advisors
Jordan Deja, Jen Teves, Aldrich Tan, and Ely Apao
Visual designers
Reine Bantang, Stella Pangilinan, Isabel Baja, Kendra Go, Khristine Tubay, and Jade Teng
Editor
References
Department of Budget and Management. (2021). Budget of expenditures and sources of FINANCING FY 2021. https://www.dbm.gov.ph/index.php/budget-documents/2021/budget-of-expenditures-and-sources-of-financing-fy-2021.
Kelly, J. (2019, March 5). Why we should get over the taboo of discussing salary openly and honestly. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/jackkelly/2019/03/05/why-we-should-get-over-the-taboo-of-discussing-salary-openly-and-honestly/?sh=23a361143b60.
Payscale. (n.d.). Industry salaries by category in the Philippines. PayScale. https://www.payscale.com/research/PH/Industry.
UX Designer Salaries. (n.d.). Transparent UX designer salaries around the world. UX Designer Salaries. https://uxdesignersalaries.com/.
