Minimum wage in the Philippines, 2026

There is no national minimum wage

The Philippines sets minimum wages regionally, through seventeen Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Boards under the Wage Rationalization Act. Each board issues its own wage order on its own timetable, which is why there is no single national figure and why two people doing identical work in Metro Manila and Cebu are entitled to different minimums.

Within a region the rate also varies by sector. Agriculture, retail and service establishments with fifteen or fewer workers, and manufacturers with fewer than ten, sit on a lower tier than the non-agricultural rate.

NCR right now

Wage Order NCR-27 raised the Metro Manila non-agricultural daily minimum from ₱695 to ₱755 on 25 July 2026, with a second tranche taking it to ₱780 on 20 January 2027. The lower tier moves from ₱658 to ₱718, then ₱743. At ₱85 in total it is the largest single daily adjustment the NCR board has issued, and DOLE estimates it reaches about 1.1 million workers.

Our regional wage table carries both tranches with their effective dates, and switches to the new figure on the day it takes effect rather than when we get round to editing the page.

The date announced is usually not the date it applies

A wage order takes legal effect fifteen days after publication in a newspaper of general circulation — not on the date of the press conference. NCR-27 is the textbook case: DOLE announced 19 July, the signed order was published on 9 July, and effectivity therefore landed on 25 July. Several publishers printed the nineteenth and had to correct it.

If your employer adjusted your pay on the announced date rather than the effective date, they were early, which is lawful. If they adjusted late, the shortfall is payable.

Working out the monthly equivalent

Minimum wages are daily figures, so converting to a monthly salary depends on the divisor your employer uses. At the common convention of 26 paid days, ₱755 a day is about ₱19,630 a month, or roughly ₱235,560 a year before deductions. A different divisor changes the monthly figure but never the daily floor, which is the legally protected number.

At that level you will pay SSS, PhilHealth and Pag-IBIG but no income tax, since annual taxable income sits below the ₱250,000 threshold. Our take-home pay calculator shows the breakdown.

What the minimum wage carries with it

Because statutory benefits are calculated off your basic daily or hourly rate, a wage order lifts more than the headline. Thirteenth month pay, night shift differential, holiday premiums and overtime multipliers all rise with it. If your daily rate went up but your 13th month pay was computed on the old rate for the months after the increase, the figure is wrong.

If you are paid below the minimum

Underpayment is a violation, and compliance in NCR runs at roughly 94 to 95% by DOLE’s own account — meaning it does happen. Raise it with your employer in writing first and ask which sector tier they have applied, since the classification comes from the wage order rather than from your job title. DOLE regional offices handle money claims of this kind, and the Single Entry Approach is the usual first step. Keep payslips: the claim rests on documented rates.