THE Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board (RTWPB) – National Capital Region (NCR) yesterday approved a P50 daily minimum wage increase for all minimum wage earners in Metro Manila.
In a statement, Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) Secretary Bienvenido Laguesma said the NCR wage board approved the pay hike that will take effect on July 18, 2025.
“The NCR wage board is the first to issue a wage order in the 2025 round of possible regional minimum wage increases,” Laguesma said.
Wage Order No. 26 of the NCR wage board will raise the minimum wage rate in Metro Manila from P645 to P695 for the non-agriculture sector and from P608 to P658 for the agriculture sector, service and retail establishments employing 15 or fewer workers, and manufacturing establishments regularly employing fewer than 10 workers.
Around 1.2 million minimum wage earners in Metro Manila are expected to directly benefit from the wage order, said DOLE.
“The increase, which was unanimously approved by the NCR wage board, is the highest ever granted by the NCR wage board,” said Laguesma.
In authorizing the increase, the NCR wage board said it considered the gross domestic product (GDP), which was at 5.4 percent in the first quarter of 2025, according to the latest data from the Philippine Statistics Authority.
The wage board also noted that the inflation rate in NCR had eased to 1.7 percent in May 2025, while the latest unemployment rate as of April 2025 was at 5.1 percent.
A total of eight wage petitions were filed last May 22, all of which are asking for a pay increase of P555.
“In deciding the amount of minimum wage increases, the role of the wage boards is to balance the rights of workers to be protected from unduly low pay and of management to reasonable profits, as well as the overall development objectives of promoting employment and productivity and preventing inflation,” Laguesma said.
In addition, some 1.7 million full-time wage and salary workers earning above the minimum wage may indirectly benefit from wage adjustments at the enterprise level due to the correction of wage distortions.
“A wage distortion occurs when the new minimum wage rate overlaps with or reduces or eliminates the difference between the wage rates set at the enterprise level and the previous minimum wage,” explained DOLE.
The department said all retail and service establishments regularly employing not more than 10 workers, and enterprises affected by natural calamities and/or human-induced disasters, may apply for exemption from the wage increase.
Registered Barangay Micro Business Enterprises (BMBEs), meanwhile, are not covered by the minimum wage law.
The last minimum wage hike in NCR took effect on July 17, 2024.
