Taxis and Third World Wages

We've been busy - haven't had a chance to update you on our happenings. I'm huffing and puffing trying to keep my studies ahead of my teaching. Especially initially while I'm making a student syllabus to help them keep up with what I am saying - at least most of what I am saying.

Everything you do around here seems to take so long. People, people, people. Traffic, traffic, traffic and more traffic. Thankfully, we're not in Manila - we visited there 8 years ago and it's like the difference between Kamloops and Vancouver - but then you must add in the Filipino driving and population density factors which take the comparison off the North American radar screen! I know the picture below doesn't indicate what I am saying but we'll have to get a more typical picture of traffic chaos. Jeremy just ran to the street closest to where we live and snapped this shot so you could see a typical taxi.



Speaking of driving, I will share a recent experience which caused me to ponder such things as wages, materialism and the poor. We were exiting one of the major malls, looking for a taxi. We were on a street that didn't have a major taxi drop/pick up. That resulted in fewer taxis and few people at that moment. As I moved towards one of two waiting taxis, I noticed a young, perhaps 8 year old boy, standing beside the taxi, flagging down would-be passengers. As we neared he questioned, "Taxi, sir, taxi?" We walked to the waiting car, getting in as he held the doors open. The boy put on his 'sad-eyed, begging' look (very obviously put on for effect - in spite of poverty, the children usually are quite happy). Should I pay him some pesos? 1 peso = 2.5 cents! I know you're thinking, what a dumb question, of course give him 5 cents!

My mind was racing through other thoughts. Several years ago in the city of Cebu, a law was passed which made begging illegal. Some kids work for drug gangs, some kids are involved in gambling, all are caught up in the devastating effects of a low income, poverty stricken society. Returning to Cebu this time, five years since our last visit, I have noticed a significant reduction in the amount of people on the streets begging. The government is encouraging people to help the poor through other avenues - programs, charitable groups working with the poor and encouraging people to give food instead of money.

My decision? I mumbled to myself, 'I could have opened the door myself' and I ignored the young boy as he closed our car doors. What happened next precipitated my pondering. The boy walked around to the driver's door and the taxi driver rolled down his window and gave the young boy some money and thanked him for helping get him some passengers. He really didn't need the help and taxi drivers aren't loaded with money.

Taxi drivers have good, middle income paying jobs in the Cebu economy. Economically, they are a quite a few steps ahead of most people. One taxi driver with 5 daughters and 1 son was beaming with father pride because he was paying for his eldest daughters university education - hopeful and desperate to help his child out of the cycle of poverty. Most taxi drivers rent a taxi, pay for gas and pocket the cash profit. They rent a vehicle for about $17.50 per 24 hour day. They usually drive from early in the morning until late at night. Their fuel expenses add up to about $6-$8 per day. The average daily income for a taxi driver is about $5.00 - $10.00. They would average around 30 passengers a day at a $1 fare per customer. A taxi ride costs a customer $.70 minimum and for us has averaged around $2.30 per ride but we travel further distances than their average customer. It is amazing that they make any profit since fuel in Cebu costs about $1.12 a liter, similar to our costs in Canada. It is obvious by their low profit margin and by their low fuel costs that they are not making long trips. It is also understandable why they ask for money in addition to their meter rate when asked to take a passenger on a longer trip.

A wage comparison - our house help gets paid $.82 per hour plus her jeepney fare to and from work which amounts to $1.10 per day - her income for an 8 hour day would therefore be $6.65. Our house help receives a high-end wage for house help which is comparitive to a low-end taxi driver wage with the taxi driver putting in many more hours.

This means that a good paying job in the Philippines is less than $2,000 annual income. Our teenage daughters make that in a few months working a part-time job at close to minimum wage. And their wage is supplementary household income, not supporting a family.

With that in mind, back to my taxi driver and young boy. I felt guilty as I saw the generosity of this young Filipino taxi driver who compassionately and sacrificially gave out of his own poverty to a little boy who likely had not much more than the ragged clothes on his back!

How does a person help? We can't help everyone, does that mean we can't help one? I momentarily resolved the matter in my heart by extending a generous tip to the taxi driver. A meager tip of $.50, seemingly nothing by our standards and yet his eyes lit up with thanks as we parted ways. Just another moment seeking to come to terms with living in a land of 'haves' and mostly 'have nots'.