Rising global cost of living in the last 20 years, should prompt the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) to consider making it mandatory for employers to raise the monthly minimum wage for Filipino domestic workers abroad to US$500, according to a migrant advocate.
Center for Migrant Advocacy (CMA) Executive Director Ellene Sana issued the statement after DMW announced that the implementation of the new rate, which will raise the current US$400 minimum wage for Filipino domestic workers by US$100, will vary depending on the results of an audit report it will conduct.
Under its Memorandum Circular (MC) No. 03, series of 2025, DMW said it will extend the transition period for the implementation of the new rate by another six months.
‘The DMW shall conduct a performance audit to assess overall compliance. Based on this assessment, the Department may either extend the transition period or mandate full compliance with the US$500 minimum wage,’ according to the three-page issuance dated 7 October 2025.
Employers who will voluntarily comply with the new rate will be given incentives by DMW including priority processing for accreditation, registration, and re-accreditation; access to a pool of skilled labor to facilitate skills matching and recruitment; and consultation on employment standards.
As of press time, DMW has yet to release the grounds and basis it will use to determine if an employer must implement the new minimum wage or not.
Progressive implementation
Sana backed the gradual implementation of the new minimum wage rate, but she said it should be made mandatory for all employers to allow Filipino domestic workers to cope with the rising cost of living.
‘It must be across the board. As it is, per study of ILO [International Labor Organization], there are significant pay gaps between the migrants compared to local workers,’ Sana said in Filipino in a Viber message to the BusinessMirror.
Based on the said 2020 ILO study the mean pay gap between migrant workers and non-migrant workers in the care economy is approximately 19.6 percent per hour in high income countries.
The same report also showed that the aggregate pay gap between all migrant workers and non-migrant workers is at 17.1 percent in the sample countries.
‘When the entry level salary of US$400 was promulgated in 2007-it became the ceiling for many [host countries], instead of the floor level. Since 2007-there has been no increment at all. A part of the basic right of the worker is a decent wage,’ she added.
Additional skills
DMW also recognized the need to raise the minimum wage for Filipino domestic workers, comparing it to the rising minimum wage for local workers in Metro Manila, which rose from P350 per day in 2006 to P645 per day in 2025.
However, some countries have expressed concern or opposed the new minimum wage rate, which compelled DMW to review the implementation of the US$500 monthly minimum wage rate.
Sana, who attended the stakeholder consultations conducted by DMW, the increase may apply to Filipino domestic workers, who will be able to obtain additional skills.
‘There were discussions on whether our MDWs [migrant domestic workers] will be required to have additional skills to justify the [wage] increase,’ she said.
Under the Household Service Workers’ (HSW) Policy Reform Package, all Filipino domestic workers must at least have a Domestic Work National Certificate (NC) II from the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) before they can work abroad.