Employers on Monday said that the P350 wage hike may badly affect the business, saying that proposals suggesting a higher increase than P100 would lead to a disastrous consequence, amid the House’s push for a massive increase in the salary of daily minimum wage earners in the private sector.
The Senate recently approved the P100 legislated wage increase; however, the House of Representatives pushed for a higher increase.
The president of the Employers Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP), Sergio Ortiz-Luis Jr., said that the P350 salary increase proposal would cause an increase in the country’s inflation rate.
With the planned proposed P350 wage hike, it would surely be inflationary and might sutter small businesses, which, according to the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI), will trigger an unwarranted increase in inflation as businesses will be forced to expand their operating margins, particularly those that are delivering goods and services.
The PCCI president, Enunina Mangio, explained that the proposed P100 increase, as proposed by the Senate, would be deleterious to the cost of doing business in the country.
However, Labor Committee chairperson Senator Jinggoy Estrada mentioned that he will adopt the House version of the legislated hike if it exceeds P100, while Senator Francis Escudero welcomed the House proposal, saying that it would benefit millions of minimum wage earners in the country.
