More than 200,000 domestic workers in Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, and Quezon) will benefit from the wage increase recently approved by the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board (RTWPB), the Department of Labor Employment (DOLE) said Saturday.
In a statement, the DOLE said a total of 233,909 domestic workers in the region would benefit from the P1,000 salary increase that will take effect on Feb. 19, or 15 days after the publication of the DOLE order.
Wage Order No. RB-IVA-DW-04 was approved on Jan. 22 and published in the newspaper on Feb. 3.
Under the order, the new monthly minimum wage rates for domestic workers under the live-in arrangement will be P6,000 for cities and first-class municipalities and P5,000 for other municipalities.
Of the 233,909 domestic workers, 28 percent or 65,408 are “stay-in.”
The last wage order for domestic workers in the region was issued on June 15, 2022, and became effective on July 15, 2022.
At least 4.1 million minimum wage earners have benefited from the salary adjustments in 15 regions in 2023, an agency under the DOLE earlier said.
“A total of 15 wage orders were issued by the RTWPBs (Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Boards) for workers in the private sector, nine of which were initiated motu proprio,” the National Wages and Productivity Commission (NWPC) said in a social media post.
The RTWPB-National Capital Region (NCR) was the first to issue a wage hike order on June 26, which provided for a P40 pay hike.
This raised the minimum wage in Metro Manila to P610 from P570 for the non-agricultural sector and to P573 from P533 for the agriculture sector.
Meanwhile, the Northern Mindanao wage board was the latest to issue a wage hike order on Dec. 21.
The region’s minimum wage has been raised to P438 from P423 for the non-agriculture sector, and to P426 from P411 for the agriculture.
Only the Davao Region wage board has yet to issue a new wage order.
However, it has already held consultations with stakeholders such as the Philippine Statistics Authority, the Department of Trade and Industry, the National Economic and Development Authority and the Department of Agriculture.
Public hearings are scheduled within the first quarter of 2024.
Meanwhile, the NWPC added that around 8.1 million “full-time wage and salary workers” earning above minimum wage are expected to benefit from the correction of wage distortions.
Wage distortion occurs when the variations in wage structures or rates among employee groups within an enterprise are significantly eliminated or substantially diminished due to mandated wage increases.
The NWPC and the RTWPBs are attached agencies of the Department of Labor and Employment.