MANILA, Philippines — Filipinos consider wage hike as their top national concern, based on the results of a survey conducted by Octa Research.
Octa Research’s Tugon ng Masa on Urgent National and Personal Concerns of Adult Filipinos in the fourth quarter of 2025 found that 45 percent of respondents cited improving or increasing workers’ wages and salaries as their top national concern.
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Wage hike concerns
“The share of adult Filipinos citing improving or increasing workers’ wages as an urgent national concern rose sharply in the Fourth Quarter (Q4) of 2025, marking its steepest increase since March 2024,” Octa said.
The salary increase overtook controlling the rising prices of basic goods and services, which is now the second top concern at 41 percent.
Prior to this result, Octa said price control had been the leading national concern consistently since the first quarter of 2022.
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“Taken together, these findings underscore that economic concerns — particularly wages, inflation, and employment — remain the most urgent issues Filipinos want the government to address,” Octa noted.
Other concerns also included access to affordable food at 30 percent; fighting graft and corruption in the government at 29 percent; and providing free, quality education at 28 percent.
Octa noted that fighting graft and corruption in government “continues to rank among the top national concerns for the second consecutive quarter, underscoring the persistence of governance-related concerns alongside economic pressures.”
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Personal concerns
Meanwhile, when it comes to personal concerns among adult Filipinos, staying healthy and avoiding illness sat at the top of the list as cited by 68 percent of respondents.
Other major personal concerns included finishing schooling or being able to provide education for one’s children at 45 percent; having enough to eat every day at 44 percent; having a secure and well-paying job or stable source of income at 38 percent; and avoiding becoming a victim of serious crime at 38 percent.
“These issues constitute the same top five personal concerns recorded since the Third Quarter of 2025, indicating stability in households’ core priorities,” Octa noted.
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The survey was conducted through face-to-face interviews from Dec. 3 to 11, 2025 with 1,200 total respondents ages 18 and above.
It had a margin of error of ±3 percent at a 95 percent confidence. /das
