MANILA, Philippines – Regional wage boards have approved increases in the minimum wages of sectoral workers in Caraga, and domestic workers in Caraga and Metro Manila, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) announced on Friday, December 15.

The Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board (RTWPB) in Caraga motu proprio issued Wage Order No. RXIII-18 on December 5, which granted a P20-daily minimum wage hike upon effectivity – January 1, 2024.

The RTWPB also set an additional P15 increase as a second tranche on May 1, 2024.

By January 1, the minimum wage across all sectors in Caraga – non-agriculture, agriculture, service and retail, and manufacturing – will be P370 from P350. On May 1, it will be P385 daily.

Caraga’s wage board also granted a P1,000 increase for Caraga’s domestic workers, bringing the minimum monthly wage to P5,000 in the region. It will similarly become effective on January 1.

Some 65,681 minimum wage earners in Caraga – which span from Surigao del Norte, Siargao, Dinagat Islands, Agusan Del Sur, Surigao Del Sur, and Agusan del Norte are set to benefit from the increase, according to the DOLE.

The department added that over 132,000 full-time wage and salary workers in the region earning above minimum were also set to benefit as a result of upward adjustments at the enterprise level from wage distortion correction.

Meanwhile, the RTWPB in Metro Manila motu proprio issued Wage Order No. NCR-DW-04 on Tuesday, December 12, increasing domestic workers’ monthly minimum salaries in the capital region by P500. The new minimum rate will be P6,500 by effectivity on January 3, 2024.

The increases for domestic workers, both in Caraga and Metro Manila, are expected to benefit around 256,476 domestic workers – majority of whom are on a live-in arrangement.

The last time wage orders for Caraga’s sectoral and domestic workers became effective was June 2022, while the last order for Metro Manila domestic workers became effective in July the same year.

By law, domestic workers have separate minimum wages from sectoral workers, or workers in private establishments. They earn less than what a private establishment worker earns at a minimum.

As of November, a family of five in Metro Manila should received a wage of P1,188 a day, or P25,839 a month to live decently, according to the IBON Foundation. There was no available family living wage information for Caraga. – Rappler.com