Over half a million minimum wage workers in the private sector in Metro Manila are due for a P15 increase in basic pay following the go signal from the wage board, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) said on Wednesday.
DOLE-National Capital Region (NCR) director Alex Avila said the new minimum wage in the region has been raised to P481 for workers in the non-agriculture sector and to P444 for workers in the agriculture sector.
Avila said the wage board took into consideration several factors, including the erosion in the minimum wage, inflation rate, possible impact of the minimum wage adjustment on prices of goods and services, as well as on employment; movements in the consumer price index, the current economic condition in the region, employers’ ability to pay, and the results of its continuing studies, sectoral consultations, and public hearings.
"[The decision] consistent with the government’s policy of granting regular, moderate, and predictable minimum wage adjustments, taking into consideration the needs of workers and their families, as well as the need to maintain stability in the business environment within the framework of the two-tiered wage system reform," he said.
The minimum wage hike is expected to be affirmed by the National Wages Productivity Commission this week, and the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board (RTWPB) will publish it.
The new minimum wage takes effect 15 days after publication, Avila said.
The wage increase will benefit 587,000 minimum wage earners, said Avila, who is also the chairperson of the RTWPB-NCR.
The wage earners will continue to be exempt from paying income tax on wage and hazard pay, holiday pay, night shift differential, and overtime pay.
“The take-home pay of our minimum wage earners will increase to P492.57 per day, or by 3.2 percent because of the wage hike, compared to the current P477.03 per day. They will also enjoy a higher 13th month pay and increased social security coverage,” Avila said.
Labor cost
“On the part of the employers, their effective labor cost per employee working six day a week will also increase by 3.2 percent, or P565.54 per day, compared to the current P547.87 per day,” he added.
But labor group Trade Union Congress of the Philippines-Nagkaisa (TUCP-Nagkaisa) said the increase was unacceptable, noting it only serves to widen the gap between the rich and the poor.
"This amount is revolting. Rather than closing the gap between rich and poor, government officials in the Board has further widened the gaping inequality amongst Filipinos – between a few elite and a famished majority who live to survive by the day," TUCP spokesperson Alan Tanjusay said in a statement.
On March 6, TUCP asked the wage board for a P136 increase.
The labor group has dared government agencies – DOLE, Department of Trade and Industry, and National Economic and Development Authority – to reveal how the wage board came out with the P15 wage increase.
"This is a nature of social injustice that either makes our productive young workers... join the ranks of our Filipino brothers and sisters in the mountain to wage the battle on Philippine social inequality from there or forces them to decide to swallow the bitter pill by working abroad at the expense of a morally, psychologically and emotionally-deprived children,” Tanjusay said. – Danessa O. Rivera/VS, GMA News
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