Wage Boards to grant minimum wage increase to NCR and Western Visayas Regions

The Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board of the National Capital Region (NCR) has released Wage Order No. NCR-23 on May 13, 2022, which grants a PHP 33.00 wage increase, making the new monthly minimum wage rate of PHP 533.00 for workers in the agriculture sector, and about PHP 577.00 for non-agriculture private workers in NCR and the Western Visayas Regions.  

This change is a collegial decision of the Board done in response to the wage review of the socio-economic conditions in the regions; the change aims to protect around one million minimum wage earners in private establishments in the area from unlawful low pay. This increase aims to return the purchasing power of minimum wage earners due to the rapidly increasing prices of essential goods, commodities, and petroleum products.  

The needs of private workers and their families, prevailing wage rates, and the capacity of the employers to pay, including those relevant data affecting the interests of both employers and workers, needed to be addressed.  

As such, a series of public consultations and hearings in the Metropolitan was conducted to ensure that all the concerns of the private workers, along with their insights on the situation, were taken into consideration.  

The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) then released a graphic of the new daily minimum wage rates in the National Capital Region, found HERE.  

Note that the last Wage Order for workers in private establishments in NCR took effect on 22 November 2018; this is a much-needed change to accommodate the economic situations of many Filipino workers.  

Afterwards, the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board – VI issued Wage Order No. RBVI-26 also gives another wage increase to workers in the non-agriculture, industrial and commercial establishments, with the added amount being PHP 55.00 and PHP 110.00, bringing the daily minimum wage in the region to PHP 450.00 and PHP 420.00 for those employing more than ten workers and those employing ten or fewer workers, respectively. Additionally, the Board also gave a PHP 95.00 increase to workers within the agriculture sector, making the daily minimum wage in that area total PHP 410.00.  

Lastly, the Board also implemented Wage Order No. RBVI-DW-04 adds another wage increase of PHP 500.00, making the new monthly minimum wage rate for domestic workers about PHP 4,500.00. This increase was done to benefit about 160,795 domestic workers (49,413 live-in and 111,382 live-out). 

The last Wage Order for workers in private establishments and domestic workers in Western Visayas took effect on 26 November 2019 and 08 May 2019, respectively. So, this new increase is much welcome to help catch up to the increasing price of goods in the country.  

The new Wage Orders will be submitted to the Commission for review and shall take effect fifteen (15) days after publication in a newspaper of general circulation.