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Employers group thumbs down proposed P750 minimum wage

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Job Manahan, ABS-CBN News

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="People buy various meat and produce at the Agora Public Market in San Juan City on February 21, 2023. The local government along with officials of the MMDA and DTI inspected the market on the same day to ensure vendors are complying with the suggested retail price set by authorities for commodities to protect consumers. Maria Tan, ABS-CBN News" src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2023/life/04/12/20230221-agora-public-market-srp-consumers-mt-6.jpg"/><figcaption>People buy various meat and produce at the Agora Public Market in San Juan City on February 21, 2023. The local government along with officials of the MMDA and DTI inspected the market on the same day to ensure vendors are complying with the suggested retail price set by authorities for commodities to protect consumers. Maria Tan, ABS-CBN News</figcaption></figure></div>MANILA — The Employers Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP) on Wednesday thumbed down proposals to raise the minimum wage to P750, saying only a few workers will benefit from this in the long run. At present, the daily minimum wage in Metro Manila is between <a href="https://nwpc.dole.gov.ph/regionandwages/national-capital-region/">P533 and P570</a> but the Makabayan bloc had filed a measure seeking to raise this to P750 in the private sector so employees could cope with inflation.Last month, a labor group in Calabarzon also <a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/multimedia/photo/03/27/23/wage-hike-in-calabarzon-pushed">filed a petition</a> raising the minimum wage in their region to P750. <ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/03/14/23/p750-minimum-wage-kailangan-na-ayon-sa-mga-pribadong-manggagawa">P750 minimum wage kailangan na, ayon sa mga pribadong manggagawa</a></li></ul>ECOP President Sergio Ortiz Luis, however, said workers in the informal sector stand to lose on this &quot;problematic&quot; proposal, as they make up the majority of the country&#x27;s workforce. &quot;Hindi lang naman iyong maliliit na employer ang maaapektuhan diyan – ang buong bayan,&quot; Luis said in a televised briefing. &quot;Akala mo magandang pakinggan – tataasan ang suweldo pero maliit na porsiyento lang iyong apektado,&quot; he added.Luis said only 16 percent of the country&#x27;s nearly 50 million working population will be covered by the minimum wage increase. He was worried about the remaining 84 percent, who do not have their own employers. &quot;Kapag tinaasan mo iyong suweldo noong mga minimum earners siyempre sino ang magtataas ng suweldo ng tricycle driver, sino ang magtataas ng suweldo noong mga farm workers, iyong mga market vendors, iyong mga ano – iyon ang hindi nakikita,&quot; he said.&quot;Saan huhugutin noong mga hindi matataasan ng suweldo na wala namang employer, iyong magiging inflation,&quot; he said. Companies, he noted, could cut jobs or raise the cost of their products when they increase wages, which could not be done by other workers. &quot;Kapag pinasok mo iyon eh inflationary iyan, paano na iyong hindi nataasan ng suweldo na 86 percent, 90 percent? Iyon ang kawawa. In short iyong buong bayan ang maaapektuhan niyan,&quot; he added. In a report published on March 31, think tank IBON Foundation said raising the minimum wage in various parts of the country is &quot;<a href="https://www.ibon.org/growing-clamor-for-wage-hike-echoes-urgency-justness-and-doability-ibon/">urgent</a> because the current nominal minimum wage of Filipino workers is unable to keep up with the rising cost of living.&quot; The group estimated that because of the inflation, the family living wage or the adequate income to raise a family of 5 in Metro Manila is now at P1,161 daily as of February 2023. &quot;The NCR daily nominal wage however is not even half (49.1 percent) of this, meaning there is a wage gap of 50.9 percent or P591,&quot; the foundation said. <figure class="op-interactive"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" frameBorder="0" height="100%" id="ivsplayer01" scrolling="no" src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/html/iframe-src.html?iframeid=ivsplayer01&amp;key=e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603&amp;spid=3001339&amp;vid=2579796" width="100%"></iframe></figure><div style="text-align:center">Video from PTV</div>

ECOP President Sergio Ortiz Luis said workers in the informal sector stand to lose on this 'problematic' proposal, as they make up the majority of the country's workforce. 

Employers group thumbs down proposed P750 minimum wage

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Employers group thumbs down proposed P750 minimum wage

Job Manahan,

ABS-CBN News

Published April 12, 2023 04:44 PM PHT

|

Updated April 12, 2023 04:52 PM PHT

Read More:

ECOP

750 minimum wage

Sergio Ortiz Luis

minimum wage

labor

IBON Foundation

informal workers

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