MANILA, Philippines — The National Capital Region-Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board (NCR-RTWPB) is expected to approve a new round of increase for minimum wage earners in the region by middle of next month, according to the Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE).

Labor Secretary Bienvenido Laguesma said on Wednesday that a new wage order would be out by July 16, exactly a year after the P40 wage increase approved by the NCR-RTWPB in 2023 took effect.

The NCR wage board will hold thisThursday a public hearing on at least three wage hike petitions. It will be held at the Occupational Safety and Health Center in Quezon City.

Laguesma said that after the public hearing, the RTWPB will decide on the propriety of adjusting the minimum wage for the region.

"Thereafter, the NCR wage board will decide on the propriety of adjusting the minimum wage for the region," he added.

RTWPB-NCR received the petition for a minimum wage increase filed by the Unity for Wage Increase Now (UWIN) on 24 May 2024. The labor group sought an increase in the daily minimum wage for workers in private establishments in NCR in the amount of P597.

The current daily minimum wage in the NCR is P610 for workers in the non-agriculture sector and P573 for workers in the agriculture sector, service/retail establishments employing 15 workers or less, and manufacturing establishments regularly employing less than 10 workers.

Some 1.1 million minimum wage earners in the NCR are expected to benefit from the upcoming wage hike.

The NCR-RTWPB is the first wage board to do the consultations in compliance with the President's Labor Day address to initiate the timely review of the regional minimum wage rates "within 60 days prior to the anniversary of their latest wage order.".

Laguesma said that other 15 regional wage boards across the country have also been directed to firm up their schedule of consultations and hearings, consistent with the President's directive and with the implementing rules and regulations issued by the National Wage and Productivity Council (NWPC).

Prior to the President's order, all 16 RTWPBs have issued wage orders to increase the minimum wage from P30 per day to P89 per day.

The last round of minimum wage increases took effect between July last year in the NCR to February this year in Region XI, or the Davao region.

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