Wage board mulls pay hike for Metro Manila household workers 

MANILA, Philippines — Household workers in Metro Manila could soon see an increase in their wages as a review of their minimum monthly salary of P3,500 was currently underway.

The Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board (RTWPB) in the National Capital Region said it had convened a series of public consultations and hearings “to gather recommendations and positions” given that there had been no pay adjustment for household helpers in the last two years.

Board’s assurance

It also gave an assurance that it would consider “all concerns and interests of domestic workers and their employers.”

“The board will exhaust all means to capture all relevant and economically feasible standards or criteria and maintain balance to safeguard the interest of both domestic workers and employers in the [metropolis],” the RTWPB said in a statement.

Under Republic Act No. 10361 or the Domestic Workers Act, the minimum monthly wage for household helpers in Metro Manila was pegged at P2,500.

Since the law was enacted in 2013, it was only in December 2017 that a wage adjustment of P1,000 was introduced.

The law provided that after a year from its effectivity and “periodically thereafter,” the regional wage boards would conduct a review and “if proper, determine and adjust the minimum wage rates of domestic workers.”