New NCR wage hike order out in July
THE National Capital RegionRegional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board will approve a new round of increase for minimum wage earners in the region next month, Labor Secretary Bienvenido Laguesma said on Wednesday.
Laguesma added that a new wage order would be out by July 16, exactly a year after the execution of the P40 wage increase approved by the NCR wage board in 2023.
He said that after hearing three wage hike petitions, the NCR wage board will decide on the propriety of adjusting the minimum wage.
The petition for a minimum wage increase filed by the Unity for Wage Increase Now was received by the board on May 24. The group asked for a P597 increase in the daily minimum wage for workers in private establishments in NCR.
The current daily minimum wage in NCR is P610 for workers in the non-agriculture sector and P573 for workers in the agriculture sector, service/retail establishments, employing 15 workers or less, and manufacturing establishments regularly employing less than 10 workers.
Some 1.1 million minimum wage earners in the NCR were expected to benefit from the wage hike.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., in his Labor Day address, ordered the review of the regional minimum wage rates within 60 days prior to the anniversary of the latest wage order.
Laguesma said that other regional wage boards have been directed to comply with the President’s directive.
The last round of minimum wage increases took effect between July last year in NCR and February this year in Region 11, or the Davao region.
“Known as the Wage Rationalization Act, the DoLE’s duty will be to implement the law no matter how hard that will be,” he said.