Minimum wage up by 11 percent since 2010

MANILA, Philippines – Minimum wage earners in Metro Manila and other regions nationwide are earning at least 11 percent more than before.

The 16 Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Boards nationwide issued in the past five years 64 wage orders granting as much as a 63-percent increase in pay of minimum wage earners, the Department of Labor and Employment reported yesterday.

Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said in the National Capital Region, the daily minimum wage rate rose by 11.90 percent or total of P77 since 2010.

“From P404, the daily minimum wage rate in Metro Manila is now pegged at P492,” Baldoz noted.

“This also means that the mandatory wage benefits of workers, including holiday pay, overtime pay, night shift differential, service incentive leave, maternity and paternity leaves, single parent leave, 13th month pay, and retirement pay also increased,” she added.

According to Baldoz, the tax exemption for the 13th month pay for all workers has been raised, from P30,000 to P82,000 while the so-called de minimis benefits and collective bargaining agreement wage increases and productivity bonuses not exceeding P10,000 has been declared tax-exempt.

The labor chief said the different wage board in granting wage increases took into consideration the objectives of the two-tiered wage system, which consists of a fixed “floor wage, or entry–level wage,” for new entrants in the labor force and low-skilled workers, and a flexible wage above the floor based on workers’ productivity and industry, or enterprise performance, which may be negotiated between the employer and the workers. –Mayen Jaymalin (The Philippine Star)