DOLE: 80% of PHL companies are minimum-wage compliant

By Samuel P. Medenilla, Business Mirror, Dec 25, 2018

THE majority of companies in the country are compliant with government-imposed social protection wages despite higher minimum wages that took effect this year, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) said.

“As of November, the compliance rate is at 80 percent on the average,” National Wages and Productivity Commission (NWPC) Executive Director Maria Criselda R. Sy said in
a recent news conference.

The rate is based on the number of companies, which were inspected by the DOLE this year and were found to be following the latest wage orders in their respective regions.

The initial 2018 figure is slightly lower compared to the overall compliance rate in 2017, which was 85.2 percent, or 51,437 out of 60,372 establishments, inspected during
that time.

Currently, out of the 17 Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Boards (RTWPBs) overseen by the NWPC, only that of the Caraga region has yet to issue a new wage order for 2018.

Sy earlier said the RTWPB-Caraga is still in the process of completing the necessary stakeholder consultation and public hearing for its new wage order.

The 16 other RTWPBs already raised their respective minimum-wage rates, which ranged from P9 to P56. The highest of these adjustments was in the Davao region.

While the latest wage order in the Davao region was higher compared to the P25 issued for Metro Manila, the latter still maintained the highest wage rate with P537 (nonagriculture worker) and P500 (agriculture workers).

The NWPC reported it received 50 applications for exemptions for the new round of wage orders this year as of May 25.

Only 20 of applications were approved.

The remaining 25 was disapproved by The NWPC and five were dismissed.

Sy earlier told the BusinessMirror the increases granted by the RTWPBs were “moderate” adjustments amid concerns by some employers that it would be inflationary.

“If you monitor since January, you wouldn’t hear [the wage hike] cause and inflation or job loss,” Sy said.

NWPC Chairman and Labor Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III, however, did admit that some of the wage increases may not be sufficient to fully offset the inflation-eroded purchasing power of workers since the RTWPBs also have to consider the paying capacity of companies.

Labor coalition Nagkaisa has been pushing for the abolition of the NWPC and RTWPBs for allegedly failing to grant the constitutionally mandated “living wage” for workers.