CEDAW/C/PHI/5-6 Employment terms and work conditions 344. Regular full-time workers in the Philippines put in at least 40 hours a week. Workers who are paid per piece or per hour of actual work, as well as unpaid family workers and own-account workers keep variable hours. In the late 1990s, domestic service workers worked the longest. Urban women kept the longest average hours in a wage job or enterprise; rural women, the shortest. The gender gap in working time was largest in rural areas where work in the field or a rural enterprise was sporadic and far in between (Annex Table B11.6). When home production time was factored in, women’s average leisure time was shorter than the men’s by an hour in rural areas and two hours in urban areas (Lim 2000). These differences in home production time continue to create problems for women. 345. Part-time workers, or those working less than 40 hours a week, accounted for 34 percent of all employed workers in 1998 and about 35.4 percent in 2003 (Annex Table B11.7). They increased by an average of 6.1 percent between 1998 and 2002, or roughly double the growth rate of the employed population (BLES 2003b). But while there continued to be more parttime workers among the women than among the men, the gender gap has narrowed over the years. 346. In 1992, women workers were paid lower hourly earnings, on the average, than do men (PHDR 1997). Gender income difference were largest in sales and the service sectors, where men were found in the bigger firms that can pay more while women are in micro and very small enterprises. In firms employing 10 workers or more, women in some male-dominated fields were paid more than the men. This was mainly because the few women in these industries occupied relatively higher positions (Illo 2002b). In 1996, women’s average monthly earnings exceeded the men’s by 29 percent in construction and 28 percent in transportation and communication; the comparable figures in 1998 were 47 percent and 35 percent, as male laborers were laid off during the crisis (BLES 2003c). 347. Using selectivity-corrected gender wage differentials (or the difference in the hourly wage rates of the average male and female wage earner, with the difference expressed relative to the women’s hourly wage rate) derived from wage regressions, male workers’ wages were found to be 41 centavos more than the women in 1988, 21 centavos more in 1991, and 17 centavos more in 1994. These suggest a diminishing gender-based differentiation (Alba n.d.). Among college graduates, this is partly due to changes in labor demand and partly to the mandated upgrading of salaries of government employees in low and middle levels up to management levels (Republic Act 6578, or Salary Standardization Law). The latter doubled the salaries of public school teachers, nurses, clerks and other public sector workers, many of whom are female. 348. The Labor Code provides for the payment of minimum wage to workers. In recognition of cost of living differences, the government has mandated regional tripartite and productivity boards to set the minimum wage(s) in their respective areas of responsibility. Workers have won wage concessions from government and employers in the form of cost of living allowances, holiday pays, and one-month bonus. Additional compensation has also been included in collective bargaining agreements. However, government labor inspection data reveals that at least a fifth of establishments routinely violated the minimum wage law: 19.6 percent of the 77,849 96