CLARK FREEPORT – The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) is consulting with the International Labor Organization (ILO) for awage formula that could square wage scales with basic needs of the worker’s family.
In her speech marking the 88th birth anniversary of former Sen.Blas Ople in Malolos, Bulacan, Labor Sec. Rosalinda Baldoz noted that while Philippine minimum wage is one of the highest in Asia, the government is still faced with the challenge of finding ways to ensure that wage levels are adequate to fulfil the essential needs of the average worker’s family.
Baldoz noted that at present, Metro Manila has the highest minimum daily wage of P466, while minimum wage in the provinces are determined by their respective Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Boards (RTWPB).
She said that only in November last year, the RTWPB in Central Luzon raised to P349 the minimum daily wage for non-agricultural workers in the region, up from the previous P342, with lower rates in the agricultural, retail and services sectors.
In Aurora province, wages were pegged at P298 daily for non-agricultural workers and from P271 to P283 for agricultural workers and P228 for those in the retail and services sector. Baldoz admitted minimum movement in the wage scales in the provinces and the non-inclusion of establishments with less than 10 workers as well as those who had declared losses.
She said that apart from seeking ILO formula on better wage computation, the government is also finding ways to decrease to 6.6 percent the current unemployment rate by 2016, from seven percent noted in 2012. “We also want to bring down the 20 percent underemployment rate to only 17 percent by the time the term of Pres. Aquino ends,” she added.
