Lawmaker mulls hourly pay rate

ONE of the leading economists in the House of Representatives is studying a national hourly wage rate, citing its flexibility for employers and workers as smaller enterprises find it difficult to keep up with a legislated daily wage hike.

“The International Labor Organization tends to prefer an hourly rate, because it doesn’t discriminate against part-timers or the gig economy,” Albay Rep. Jose Ma. Clemente S. Salceda said in a Viber message.

An hourly wage rate is also more flexible for enterprises and their workers and could be established across all regions, he said. “Most provincial economies also do not need workers to be in the office the whole eight hours,” he pointed out.

Ser Percival K. Peña-Reyes, director of the Ateneo Center for Economic Research and Development, said employers in the regions would find it more difficult to implement a wage hike. “If you mandate that increase, proportionally, the impact is bigger on them, especially firms [in the] regions [where] wages are lower than what they are in [Metro] Manila,” Mr. Peña-Reyes said via telephone.

The House Committee on Labor and Employment is set to deliberate on several wage hike measures on Wednesday.

Congressmen filed several bills seeking P150 and P750 across-the-board wage hikes. Iloilo Rep. Janette L. Garin said earlier that the chamber is also looking at a wage increase of P350 to P400.

If a wage hike is implemented, Mr. Salceda said the construction, transportation and storage sectors will experience the sharpest increase in cost.

He said a “reasonable” wage hike could help employers and workers manage looming price impacts.