Salaries

This image has been going around in my Facebook and Plurk circles. It shows the average annual salary of graphic designers in different countries around the world.

It's fascinating to see how much designers are getting in countries like the United States, Australia and Switzerland. At the same time, it's pretty dismal to see how little graphic designers in Asia are getting in comparison. The Philippines is by far the lowest of the bunch.

When you convert that to Philippine Pesos, I suppose it's not such a bad deal. However, this graphic shows us that we can get more if we wanted to. I'm wondering though, what are the factors that affect this study? Are these figures based off the local clients, or overall clients that the graphic designers get? Or are clients willing to pay that much only because of where the designers are located?

Writers in the Philippines are in a similar predicament. At least, from what I'm seeing in the freelance boards I go to. Many people who are looking for writers prefer to get from places like the Philippines or India because their bids are low and they are willing to work for small amounts. Granted, when converted to the local currency it may be substantial, but the tradeoff is you have to write a lot before you can actually get a good amount. It's pretty much a bidding war most of the time, and often it's not the best writer who gets the job, but the one with a much lower rate.

Here's hoping that we can soon lift this kind of restriction (for lack of better word) for our graphic designers, writers, artists and the like.