NCR minimum wage now at P466/day after P15 increase

Minimum wage workers in the private sector in Metro Manila are due an increase of P15 this month in their basic pay, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) said.

The minimum daily wage in the National Capital Region for non-agricultural workers now stands at P466.00. For other private sector works, the minimum wage is at P429.00.

DOLE Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz, quoted in a report of the Philippine News Agency, said that the increase in basic pay stems from the implementation of Wage Order NCR-18 approved in September last year.

Baldoz reminded employers that the increase is the result of the integration of half of the P30.00 cost of living allowance into the computation of basic pay.

“It also means an increase in minimum wage earners’ 13th month pay, overtime pay, night shift differential pay, and other statutory benefits because the integrated P15 COLA is included in the computation of these benefits,” the DOLE chief said.

She also said the raise translates to a P330 increase in the minimum monthly basic pay of NCR workers.”

Baldoz said the new minimum wage rate shall apply to all minimum wage workers in the private sector in Metro Manila regardless of their position, designation, or status of employment, and how they are paid.

Excluded from the new wage rate are:

– household service or domestic helpers
– persons in the personal service of another, including family drivers
– workers of duly registered Barangay Micro Business Enterprises with Certificates of Authority.

Wage Order NCR-No. 18 also states that workers paid by result, including those who are paid on piecework, “takay,” “pakyaw,” or task basis, shall be entitled to receive the prescribed minimum wage per eight hours of work per day, or a proportion thereof for working less than eight hours.

Compliance in NCR is at 61.7% of inspected establishments

According to labor standards enforcement figures of the DOLE as of the first quarter of 2013, minimum wage compliance among unionized establishments in Metro Manila was at 95.8 percent. Some 623 unionized workplaces were surveyed.

The DOLE inspected 120 NCR workplaces during the quarter and found that 105 of them had labor standards violations and only 61.7 percent complied with the minimum wage back then of P456 for non-agricultural workers and P419 for other types of workers.

Nationwide, the minimum wage compliance rate upon inspection was at 81 percent, but by region, compliance varied widely from the lowest at 37.8 percent in Mimaropa (Mindoro, Marinduque and Palawan) to the highest at 94.5 percent in Region XII (SOCCSKSARGEN). — ELR, GMA News