Pay hike for Northern Mindanao workers, kasambahay OK’d

MANILA, Philippines — The daily take-home pay of minimum wage earners and monthly salary of domestic workers in Northern Mindanao will increase starting next year.

In an order issued on Dec. 19 and released on Friday night, the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board granted an increase of P23 in the daily salary of workers in the region starting Jan. 11, 2024.

An additional P10 will be given on July 1.

The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) said the full implementation of the wage hike would bring the daily minimum pay in the region to P438 for workers in the non-agriculture sector and P426 for those in the agriculture sector.

The wage board also increased the monthly minimum salary of domestic workers or kasambahay by P500 in chartered cities as well as first-class municipalities and P1,500 in other towns.

At least 144,133 minimum wage earners in the region will benefit from the pay hike.

The DOLE said 267,305 full-time wage and salary workers earning above the minimum wage may indirectly benefit as a result of upward adjustments at the enterprise level arising from the correction of wage distortion.

It will also result in an increase in wage-related benefits covering 13th-month pay, service incentive leave and social security benefits by 23 percent.

The new minimum monthly salary of domestic workers in Northern Mindanao will be P5,000.

The wage orders will be published on Dec. 26 and shall take effect 15 days after publication.

The pay hike for kasambahay will benefit 54,851 domestic workers, around 20 percent or 11,059 of them on live-in arrangement.

The new rates translate to an increase of eight percent from the prevailing daily minimum pay in the region.

The last wage hike for minimum wage earners and domestic workers in Northern Mindanao was implemented on June 18, 2022.

Minimum wage earners in Metro Manila, Central Luzon, Calabarzon, Cagayan Valley, Mimaropa, Soccsksargen and Caraga had also been granted pay increases this year.