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Sam Beltran

In the Philippine capital, 85 pesos (US$1.40) is barely enough to buy a meal for one, let alone a family of five.
Yet that modest sum, roughly the price of 1½kg of premium imported rice, is the largest single wage increase ever approved for Metro Manila’s minimum-wage earners.
The government called it “historic”. Labour groups called it an insult.
The increase, to be rolled out in two stages, was confirmed by the Department of Labour and Employment on Tuesday.
Non-agricultural workers will see their daily wage rise from 695 pesos to 755 pesos this month, then to 780 pesos by January. Employees of smaller companies and agricultural workers will see a similar, slightly lower increase, climbing from 658 to 743 pesos over the same period.

On paper, it marks a record increase. In practice, economists and labour leaders say it does not even come close to covering a soaring cost of living that has outrun wages for years.
In 2023, the latest year for which figures are available, households in Metro Manila spent an annual average of 385,050 pesos (US$6,300), according to the Philippine Statistics Authority – equal to roughly 1,055 pesos a day and nearly 50 per cent above the national average.
A typical family of five needs at least 1,300 pesos a day simply to cover basic food and non-food necessities, Manila-based think tank the Ibon Foundation calculated in April, a benchmark the new minimum wage does not come close to touching, even after the second tranche kicks in.
Inflation, meanwhile, though easing slightly to 6.8 per cent in May, is still running well above the government’s target band.
“This increase will simply be eaten up,” said Mary Ann Castillo, secretary general of the labour federation Kilusang Mayo Uno (May First Movement).
“Workers will not feel it in their take-home pay, especially for a family of five eating every day,” she said. “So the increase serves no real purpose and is actually an insult.”

Castillo said families were already borrowing money just to get them through to the next payday, adding that a minor wage increase stretched across two instalments would do little to help.
Vincent Jerald Ramos, a University of the Philippines economist, confirmed that the 85-peso rise was the largest nominal increase on record, but said it followed “a decades-long stagnation in the real minimum wage”, raising questions about how the figure was even reached.
“I have not seen any report or analysis or minutes of regional wage board meetings to explain how 85 pesos was arrived at,” said Ramos, who is currently a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Southampton’s Economic and Social Research Council in the UK.
“Every minimum wage adjustment must, in my opinion, be transparently explained to stakeholders to foster some trust and confidence in the minimum wage-setting regime.”
Devoured by bills
The row over wages is unfolding against a backdrop of rising food prices and utility bills.
Last month, the Manila Electric Company, which supplies more than half of the Philippines’ electricity, announced it was raising prices again amid the ongoing economic fallout from the US-Israel war on Iran.
Transport is likely to quickly devour the wage increase as well: with fewer jeepneys on the road due to persistent fuel shortages, commuters have been turning to tricycles that charge up to 15 pesos more per trip.
“That’s already a significant additional cost for workers,” said Nanoy Rafael of Para-Commuters Network, an advocacy group.
Mimi Doringo, secretary general of the urban-poor alliance Kadamay National, was clear about what her group was demanding.
“We are calling for a living wage for the entire country, not scraps from [the tables of] companies profiting off the hard work of their employees,” she said.
We are calling for a living wage for the entire country, not scraps
Mimi Doringo, secretary general of Kadamay National
Small businesses, meanwhile, find themselves squeezed from the opposite side.
Maricar Ricardos, who co-founded Escolta Coffee Company, a small-batch roaster in Manila, does not dispute that workers deserve more, but she would like some government support to match the wage mandates.
“Given the rising cost of living, it’s only fair that wages also improve so employees can better support themselves and their families,” she said. “That said, I also hope the government introduces stronger support programmes for small businesses.”
Ricardo said her power bills had nearly doubled since January to 40,000 pesos a month, while city fees for trash collection had shot up from 4,000 pesos to 30,000 pesos in just one year.
Another rise in labour costs and she would be forced to raise prices, she said. “Those are never easy decisions because we know higher prices also affect our customers.”
Those left behind
Then there are the country’s legions of freelancers and gig workers, many of whom are paid by output rather than by the hour, often earning less than minimum wage.
“A majority of us who work freelance will not even feel this,” said Katrina Stuart Santiago, a writer and advocate for cultural workers.

For economists like Ramos, many questions remain unanswered: what should wage-setting look like beyond the capital? Is a single national minimum wage even the goal? And might collective bargaining, rather than government mandates, be “most impactful for workers in highly productive firms”?
For now, Metro Manila’s workers have their answer. It is 85 pesos. Whether that is enough is not really in question any more.


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Manila’s record minimum wage rise leaves workers hungry for more

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A ‘historic’ wage increase was meant to ease hardship. Critics say it is already being swallowed up by soaring costs


A ‘historic’ wage increase was meant to ease hardship. Critics say it is already being swallowed up by soaring costs.


Poverty

University of the Philippines (UP)

Manila’s record minimum wage rise leaves workers hungry for more

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}A ‘historic’ wage increase was meant to ease hardship. Critics say it is already being swallowed up by soaring costs

A ‘historic’ wage increase was meant to ease hardship. Critics say it is already being swallowed up by soaring costs