UK’s New National Minimum Wage for 2015 to Benefit OFWs – Baldoz

Labor and Employment Secretary Rosalinda Dimapilis-Baldoz announced that overseas Filipino workers in the United Kingdom and in Northern Ireland will get higher wages after the UK government has issued a new national minimum wage rate effective 1 October 2015.

Citing the report of Officer-in-Charge Esperanza Cobarrubias of the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) in London, Secretary Baldoz said that the UK government issued new national minimum wage rates for workers in various age brackets – those aged 21 and above; those aged 18 to 20; those aged 16 to 17; and those who are apprentices.

The new minimum wage rate is expected to benefit 73,390 Filipino migrant workers out of 162,325 estimated Filipinos in UK and in Northern Ireland.

“We welcome this pronouncement of the UK government. This is good news for our OFWs working in the United Kingdom and in Northern Ireland,” the DOLE chief said.

For adult workers or those aged 21 and above, the new national minimum wage rate is £6.70 per hour, an increase of 20 pence from the previous rate of £6.50.

The three percent increase in the adult rate moves the national minimum wage closer to the average wage than ever before. The new rate means that a full time employee, working 40 hours a week, will see the largest cash increase in their annual pay packets since 2008.

For workers aged 18 to 20 years old, the new minimum wage rate is at £5.30 per hour, an increase of 17 pence from the previous rate of £5.13. Those workers aged 16 to 17 years, on the other hand, will get an 8 pence-increase, or from £3.79 to £3.87 per hour.

Lastly, apprentices, who get to receive the highest wage increase among the worker groups, will enjoy a raise of 57 pence, or from £2.73 to £3.30 per hour. “This development makes apprenticeship remain an attractive option for young people,” OIC Cobarrubias said.

Source: www.dole.gov.ph