By Inocensia Inojales | 09:29 PM September 16, 2024
Workers in Central Visayas will expect a slight addition to their wages as the regional wage board approved increase in the minimum wage of workers in private establishments, the Department of Labor and Employment (Dole) announced on Monday.
The adjustment range from P33 to P43 per
day for Central Visayas workers.
The new wage order will take effect on October 2, 2024, the day immediately following the anniversary date of the previous regional wage order.Â
The increase brings the daily minimum wages from P458-P468 to P501 for Class A; P425-P430 to P463 for Class B; and P415-P420 to P453 for Class C.
According to Dole, the wage orders were issued following President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr.’s Labor Day directive to the RTWPBs to review regional minimum wage rates prior to the anniversary dates of previous wage increases.
Members of The Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board here (RTWPB) cited various reasons as to why they decided to increase the daily minimum wage rates in the region. But most of them point to the rise of the cost of goods as well as weakening purchasing power of the Philippine peso.
They also cited findings from the Philippine Statistics Authority that the poverty threshold of a family of five living in Central Visayas is already at P473.
Minimum wages in the Philippines vary by region and by type of work, with wages lower in less developed areas to encourage investment and to supposedly reflect lower costs of living.
Labor groups have called for a nationwide minimum wage instead of the regional ones that wage boards set in consultation with workers and employers, saying prices are high everywhere.
