Wage hike unlikely in 2024

MANILA, Philippines — Minimum wage earners nationwide are unlikely to enjoy another salary adjustment in the coming year, according to the Department of Labor and Employment.

DOLE Secretary Bienvenido Laguesma said they will let the wage increases granted in 2023 “sink in” first, and the department will focus on ensuring those latest wage orders are complied with.

“It is in the mandate of the DOLE to make sure there is compliance with the wage order,” Laguesma said in Filipino.

In 2023, Laguesma said, 15 out of the 16 Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Boards (RTWPBs) nationwide issued new wage orders granting salary increases to minimum wage earners.

He said even the RTWPB in the Caraga region, which was rocked by a devastating earthquake, still conducted public hearings and came out with the new wage order.

Not only the minimum wage earners, he said, benefitted from the wage orders due to wage distortion.

Out of the 16 RTWPBS nationwide, Laguesma said 11 also granted salary increases for household service workers ranging from P400 to P1,000.

Only the RTWPB in Davao region is still conducting deliberation and has yet to grant a wage adjustment.

The labor chief noted that most of the RTWPBs issued wage orders motu propio or even without formal petitions seeking wage hike.