By Business World
A wage increase in the Philippine capital and nearby cities is likely in July, based on past decisions by the regional wage board, according to the country’s Labor chief.
“There is always an adjustment based on historical data,” Labor Secretary Bienvenido E. Laguesma told reporters on the sidelines of an event on Wednesday. “The challenge is how much.”
He declined to give an estimate.
The wage board in the National Capital Region (NCR) is expected to release its decision on the petitions to raise the daily minimum wage on or before July 16, the anniversary of the previous wage order.
To recall, the NCR wage board last July approved a P40 increase, which brought the daily minimum wage to P610 for nonagriculture sector workers and P573 for agricultural workers.
The Employers Confederation of the Philippines (ECoP) on Wednesday sought minimum wage-setting mechanisms that consider productivity, the market value of jobs, and the financial capacity of businesses, especially micro, small, and medium enterprises.
This would “ensure sustainable job creation and business growth,” the group said in a resolution signed at the National Employment Summit.
Wage hike decisions should also consider the impact on the majority of the population that will not benefit from such adjustments, ECoP said.
ECoP Governor and Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry Director Arturo “Butch” C. Guerrero III said the wage-setting mechanism they are pushing for is through a tripartite system, not a legislated one.
The Senate last February approved on third and final reading a bill increasing the daily minimum wage in the private sector by P100.
At the House of Representatives, separate bills that seek to increase wages of private sector workers by P150 to P750 have been filed.
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