Salary Grade Philippines: Government Pay Scale SG-1 to SG-33

Sources rechecked as of: September 7, 2026
Last materially reviewed: September 7, 2026

“Salary grade” is not a private-sector term. It is a formal rank — SG-1 through SG-33 — assigned to every position in the national government, local government units and government-owned or -controlled corporations with an original charter, under a single Compensation and Position Classification System. Job seekers researching a government post, and civil servants trying to read their own payslip, both run into the term without a plain explanation of what it controls.

A salary grade fixes only the basic monthly salary for a position, at one of eight steps. It says nothing about allowances such as PERA, RATA or hazard pay, and it has no application to private-sector employers, who instead follow the regional daily minimum wage set by the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Boards.^[5] LaborCode.ph’s guide to minimum wage in the Philippines covers that separate, private-sector system.

This guide explains what a salary grade is, the law behind it, who is covered, how the current 2024–2027 salary schedule works, and what happens when actual pay does not match the prescribed grade and step.

Direct Answer

A salary grade (SG) is the numbered pay rank, from SG-1 to SG-33, assigned to every civilian government position under the Compensation and Position Classification System established by Republic Act No. 6758, the Salary Standardization Law.^[1] Each grade has eight salary steps, and a position’s grade is fixed by its classification — not by the individual occupying it or by an agency head’s discretion.

The salary schedule currently in effect was set by Executive Order No. 64, series of 2024, which is being rolled out over four annual tranches from January 1, 2024 to January 1, 2027.^[3] The government is now in the Third Tranche, effective January 1, 2026, implemented through DBM National Budget Circular No. 601: Step 1 of SG-1 is currently ₱14,634 a month, SG-11 Step 1 is ₱31,705, SG-24 Step 1 is ₱102,603, and SG-33 Step 1 is ₱462,329.^[4]

The system covers civilian personnel — regular, contractual and casual — in the Executive, Legislative and Judicial Branches, Constitutional Commissions, GOCCs with an original charter, and local government units. It does not cover military and uniformed personnel (who follow a separate schedule), GOCCs incorporated under the general Corporation Code without an original charter (whose employees fall under the Labor Code instead), or individuals engaged through job orders or contracts of service, who have no employer-employee relationship with the government at all.^[3]

Key Takeaways

A salary grade is a civil-service pay classification under RA 6758, entirely separate from the Labor Code minimum wage system that governs private-sector employees.
There are 33 salary grades, each with 8 steps, grouped into four occupational categories — professional supervisory, professional non-supervisory, sub-professional supervisory and sub-professional non-supervisory.
The current salary schedule runs under Executive Order No. 64, series of 2024, in four tranches from 2024 to 2027. The government is in the Third Tranche (2026) as of this writing.
Salary grade covers the national government, LGUs, constitutional bodies and GOCCs with an original charter — not private employers, not GOCCs without an original charter, and not job order or contract-of-service workers.
A position’s salary grade comes from DBM’s Index of Occupational Services, based on the nature, complexity and required qualifications of the position — it is not something an agency head can assign at will.
Paying above the salary schedule — even under a special charter’s general compensation-fixing authority — can be disallowed by the Commission on Audit.
Recipients of a COA-disallowed excess payment may still have to refund it, though the Supreme Court has carved out a good-faith exception for both approving officers and, in some circumstances, recipients.
Basic salary under the schedule is only one part of gross pay; allowances like PERA and RATA, and mandatory deductions like withholding tax, are computed separately.

Legal Basis

Authority	Classification	Rule Supported	Effect
Republic Act No. 6758 (Compensation and Position Classification Act of 1989)	Statute	Establishes the 33-grade, 8-step Compensation and Position Classification System and DBM’s administering authority	Binding law
Republic Act No. 11466 (Salary Standardization Law of 2019)	Statute	Prior four-year salary schedule (2020–2023); remains part of the statutory basis EO 64 builds on	Binding law
Executive Order No. 64, series of 2024	Executive issuance	Updates the salary schedule for civilian government personnel; sets the 2024–2027 four-tranche implementation	Binding administrative issuance
DBM National Budget Circular No. 601 (January 22, 2026)	Administrative issuance	Implements the Third Tranche (2026) of the EO 64 salary schedule and fixes the current peso rates	Implementing guideline
Labor Code of the Philippines, Article 82	Labor Code provision	Excludes government employees from Book Three’s working-conditions coverage	Binding law; defines the Labor Code’s boundary
Juco v. National Labor Relations Commission, G.R. No. 98107, August 18, 1997	Supreme Court jurisprudence	Distinguishes GOCCs with an original charter (civil service, salary grade) from GOCCs without one (Labor Code, NLRC)	Controlling jurisprudence
Mendoza v. Commission on Audit, G.R. No. 195395, September 10, 2013	Supreme Court jurisprudence	Compensation fixed under a special charter’s general authority still cannot exceed the applicable salary grade	Controlling jurisprudence
Madera v. Commission on Audit, G.R. No. 244128, September 8, 2020	Supreme Court jurisprudence	Sets the rules for refund liability when a payment exceeding the salary schedule is disallowed	Controlling jurisprudence

What Is a Salary Grade?

A salary grade is the rank a specific government position occupies within the Compensation and Position Classification System created by RA 6758 in 1989.^[1] The law’s declared policy is “equal pay for substantially equal work”: two positions with comparable duties, responsibility and required qualifications should sit at the same grade, regardless of which agency employs them.

The system groups all positions into four broad categories, each spanning a different range of grades:

Category	Salary Grade Range	Typical Positions
Professional Supervisory	SG 9–33	Division chiefs, directors, bureau heads and other managerial roles requiring at least a bachelor’s degree
Professional Non-Supervisory	SG 8–30	Teachers, nurses, engineers, accountants and other specialized roles requiring a four-year degree
Sub-Professional Supervisory	SG 4–18	Foremen and supervisors of technical or manual work, typically requiring secondary or vocational education
Sub-Professional Non-Supervisory	SG 1–10	Clerks, drivers, utility workers and other support and trades positions

Within each grade, eight salary steps allow an employee’s pay to rise over time — through length of service or performance-based step increments — without changing the position’s underlying grade. A position’s basic salary is therefore always described as “SG-[number], Step [number]” — for example, SG-11, Step 1.

It is worth distinguishing this from what counts as a wage under Article 97 of the Labor Code, which defines wage far more broadly for private-sector purposes. Salary grade is narrower and specific to the public sector: it fixes only the basic salary component of a government position’s pay.

Who Is Covered — and Who Isn’t

RA 6758 and EO 64 apply to all civilian government personnel — regular, contractual and casual, regardless of appointment status — in the Executive, Legislative and Judicial Branches, Constitutional Commissions, GOCCs with an original charter, and local government units.^[3] This covers everyone from a municipal clerk to a Supreme Court justice.

Three categories fall outside the system entirely:

Military and uniformed personnel. The Armed Forces and the Philippine National Police follow their own separate compensation schedules.
GOCCs without an original charter. A government corporation incorporated under the general Corporation Code — rather than created by its own special law — falls outside the civil service. Its employees are governed by the Labor Code and NLRC jurisdiction instead, as the Supreme Court clarified in Juco v. NLRC.^[6]
Job order and contract-of-service personnel. There is no employer-employee relationship in the legal sense here — the individual is paid a service fee for outputs or a defined period, not a government salary, and receives none of the benefits tied to a civil-service appointment.

Because this boundary trips up many job seekers, the table below lines the two systems up side by side.

Feature	Salary Grade System (Civil Service)	Regional Minimum Wage (Private Sector)
Governing law	RA 6758, RA 11466, EO 64 s. 2024	Labor Code, Article 99; regional wage orders
Who sets the rate	Congress/the President, implemented by the DBM	Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Boards (RTWPB)
Who is covered	National government, LGUs, GOCCs with original charter	Private employers; GOCCs without original charter
Adjustment mechanism	New executive order or law, rolled out in tranches	Regional wage orders, issued as needed per region
Retirement fund	GSIS	SSS
Pay-dispute forum	Civil Service Commission, Commission on Audit	DOLE, NLRC

For the private-sector side of this comparison, see LaborCode.ph’s guide to minimum wage rates by region and wage order.

How the Current Salary Schedule Works

The salary schedule now in effect comes from Executive Order No. 64, series of 2024, signed by President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. on August 2, 2024, and grounded in RA 6758,^[1] RA 11466,^[2] RA 10149 and RA 7160.^[3] Rather than taking effect all at once, the new schedule is phased in across four annual tranches:

First Tranche: January 1, 2024
Second Tranche: January 1, 2025
Third Tranche: January 1, 2026 (current)
Fourth Tranche: January 1, 2027

National government agencies implement each tranche on schedule. GOCCs and LGUs may phase in the increases over a longer period tied to their financial capacity, under RA 10149 and, for GOCCs, EO No. 95, series of 2025.

The Third Tranche was implemented through DBM National Budget Circular No. 601, dated January 22, 2026. A sample of the current Step 1 rates it sets illustrates the range the schedule covers:

Salary Grade	Monthly Salary, Step 1 (2026, Third Tranche)
SG-1	₱14,634
SG-11	₱31,705
SG-24	₱102,603
SG-33	₱462,329

Each grade’s Step 2 through Step 8 amounts are progressively higher than Step 1, and NBC 601 sets out the complete table for all 33 grades and 8 steps. Because the exact peso amounts change with every tranche, always confirm the current figures directly against the latest DBM circular before relying on a specific number for payroll or budgeting.

These figures represent basic salary only. Take-home pay also reflects allowances like the Personnel Economic Relief Allowance (PERA) and, for qualifying positions, RATA and hazard pay, plus mandatory GSIS, PhilHealth and Pag-IBIG deductions and withholding tax on compensation, which follows the same TRAIN Law brackets as private-sector salaries.

How a Position Gets Its Salary Grade

A position’s salary grade is not something an agency head, HR officer or elected official can assign at will. It comes from the DBM’s Index of Occupational Services, Occupational Groups, Classes and Salary Grades, which classifies every recognized government position title based on the nature, difficulty and complexity of its duties; the level of responsibility and decision-making authority involved; the minimum education, training, experience and eligibility required; and whether the position supervises other personnel.

Because the grade attaches to the position, not the person, two employees with the same job title in different agencies should sit at the same grade, and an individual’s qualifications above the minimum do not by themselves raise it. An agency that believes a position is misclassified must request reclassification through the DBM — it cannot simply pay above the position’s existing grade.

This is also where basic salary as a concept matters: the salary grade table fixes only this base figure, and everything else — allowances, differentials, incentives — is computed alongside it, not folded into the grade itself.

Common Problems and Red Flags

Most salary grade disputes trace back to a handful of recurring issues:

Confusing GOCC types. Employees and HR officers alike sometimes assume every GOCC follows the civil service salary grade table, when this depends entirely on whether the corporation has an original charter.
Boards granting pay above the schedule. A water district, GOCC or LGU board with general authority to fix compensation does not have authority to exceed the applicable salary grade cap unless a law expressly says so — a pattern that routinely leads to a COA disallowance.
Job order and contract-of-service workers expecting salary-grade benefits. Because they have no employer-employee relationship with the government, they are not entitled to PERA, RATA, GSIS coverage, or other civil-service benefits tied to an appointment.
Reclassification without DBM approval. An agency that upgrades a position’s grade internally exposes both the position and the payments made against it to disallowance.
Mistaking basic salary for gross pay. The salary grade and step figure is not the full amount landing in an employee’s bank account; allowances add to it, and mandatory contributions and tax withholding subtract from it.

Supreme Court Cases Interpreting the Salary Grade System

1. Juco v. National Labor Relations Commission

G.R. No. 98107, August 18, 1997. A project engineer of the National Housing Corporation, a GOCC incorporated under the general Corporation Code rather than by its own special charter, was dismissed and filed an illegal dismissal complaint that bounced between the Labor Arbiter, the NLRC and the Civil Service Commission for years over jurisdiction. The Supreme Court held that GOCCs without an original charter fall outside civil service coverage; their employees are governed by the Labor Code and NLRC jurisdiction, not the Civil Service Commission.^[6]

Practical lesson: Not every government-connected employer uses the salary grade system. Whether a GOCC’s employees are civil servants paid under a salary grade, or private-sector employees paid minimum wage, turns on whether the corporation has an original legislative charter.

2. Mendoza v. Commission on Audit

G.R. No. 195395, September 10, 2013. A water district general manager received compensation the district’s board had approved under its statutory authority to fix employee pay. The Commission on Audit disallowed the portion exceeding Salary Grade 30, the level the position was classified at, and the general manager argued the Provincial Water Utilities Act exempted the board from the Salary Standardization Law. The Supreme Court disagreed: a board’s general authority to fix compensation does not override RA 6758’s classification system absent an explicit statutory exemption.^[7]

Practical lesson: A charter clause giving a board discretion to set pay is not, by itself, an exemption from the salary grade cap. Confirm an explicit, on-point exemption exists before paying above the classified grade.

3. Madera v. Commission on Audit

G.R. No. 244128, September 8, 2020. A municipality granted several allowances to its officials and employees that the Commission on Audit later disallowed as violations of the Salary Standardization Law, which would have required both the approving officials and the recipients to refund the money. The Supreme Court used the case to set a clearer framework: good-faith approving and certifying officers are not personally liable; those acting with bad faith, malice or gross negligence are solidarily liable for the net disallowed amount; and recipients generally must return what they received unless it was genuinely given for services rendered, with the Court retaining discretion to excuse a refund on equitable grounds.^[8]

Practical lesson: Receiving a payment in good faith, based on a facially valid board resolution, does not guarantee it is legally correct. If it later turns out to exceed the salary schedule, both approving officials and recipients may face a refund obligation — good faith can excuse liability, but it is not an automatic shield.

Consequences and Remedies When Pay Doesn’t Match the Schedule

What happens next depends on which direction the mismatch runs.

Paid below the correct grade and step — for example, a reclassification approved but never implemented in payroll — the usual first step is an administrative request to HR or budget, supported by the DBM issuance or CSC action approving the grade. If the agency does not correct it, escalation runs to the Civil Service Commission (classification and personnel issues) or the Commission on Audit (money claims). Because civil servants are excluded from Labor Code coverage under Article 82, this route runs through CSC and COA, not DOLE or the NLRC — except for employees of a GOCC without an original charter, who do fall under NLRC jurisdiction.^[6]

Paid above the correct grade and step and disallowed by COA, the agency and individuals involved receive a Notice of Disallowance, appealable within COA’s process and ultimately to the Supreme Court on certiorari. If upheld, liability follows the Madera framework: good-faith approving officers are generally not personally liable, those acting in bad faith or with gross negligence are solidarily liable for the net disallowed amount, and recipients typically must refund unless the Court excuses it on equitable grounds.^[8]

A dispute over the classification itself — whether a position should sit at a higher or lower grade — is resolved through a reclassification request or appeal to the DBM, with further recourse to the CSC or the courts if the parties disagree.

What to Do Next

If you are a government employee

Confirm your official salary grade and step against your appointment paper and the current DBM salary schedule, not just informal payroll figures.
Separate basic salary from your full pay slip and check that PERA, RATA (if applicable) and deductions are itemized correctly.
Keep your appointment and any reclassification documents in case a discrepancy arises later.
Raise a shortfall in writing with HR or budget first — most payroll errors are resolved administratively.
Escalate to the CSC or COA if the agency does not correct a documented error, depending on whether it is a classification, personnel or money-claim issue.
If you are a job order or contract-of-service worker, understand that you are not assigned a salary grade and do not receive civil-service benefits; your compensation follows your service contract, not RA 6758.

If you are an HR, budget or personnel officer

Verify every position’s salary grade against the DBM’s current Index of Occupational Services before finalizing appointments or payroll.
Confirm which tranche applies to your agency type — national agencies follow the EO 64 timeline directly, while GOCCs and LGUs may have their own phase-in schedule.
Route any reclassification or upgrading through the DBM’s formal process, never internally.
Before citing a charter provision to justify pay above the schedule, confirm it is an explicit RA 6758 exemption, not just general compensation-fixing authority.
Document the basis for every allowance or incentive granted, in case of a later COA audit.
If a Notice of Disallowance is issued, assess exposure under the Madera good-faith framework promptly.

Employer Compliance Checklist

Confirm each position’s salary grade against DBM’s current Index of Occupational Services.
Apply the correct tranche and step per the latest DBM budget circular.
Route reclassification or upgrading requests through the DBM — never approve them internally.
Keep basic salary, PERA, RATA, hazard pay and other allowances clearly itemized and separately authorized.
Verify any charter provision cited to justify pay above the schedule is an explicit RA 6758 exemption.
Maintain complete documentation for every allowance or special payment for audit purposes.
Confirm whether personnel are civil-service appointees (salary grade applies) or job order/contract-of-service workers (it does not) before processing benefits.
Respond promptly to any COA Notice of Disallowance, assessing good-faith exposure for both officials and recipients.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between salary grade and take-home pay?

Salary grade and step fix only the basic monthly salary. Take-home pay also includes allowances like PERA and RATA, minus mandatory GSIS, PhilHealth, Pag-IBIG and withholding tax deductions.

Does the private sector have salary grades?

No. Salary grades apply only to civil-service positions in the national government, LGUs and GOCCs with an original charter. Private-sector employees are covered by the regional minimum wage system instead.

Can a local government unit or GOCC pay more than the national salary schedule?

Not on its own authority. LGUs and GOCCs implement the same table, though they may phase in increases over a longer period. Paying above the applicable grade without an explicit statutory exemption risks a COA disallowance.

I am a job order or contract-of-service worker. Do I have a salary grade?

No. These engagements do not create an employer-employee relationship with the government, so no salary grade applies. Compensation follows the service contract itself, not RA 6758.

How often does the government adjust the salary schedule?

There is no fixed interval. Adjustments come through new legislation or an executive order, historically every few years, and are typically phased in over several annual tranches.

Where can I check the exact current salary grade rates?

The Department of Budget and Management publishes the current schedule and its implementing circulars, including tranche-specific rates for every grade and step, on its official website.

Are teachers, nurses and police officers on the same salary grade table?

Teachers and nurses are civilian personnel covered by the RA 6758 salary grade table. Uniformed police and military personnel follow a separate compensation schedule under different laws.

Conclusion

A salary grade is the government’s formal pay classification: a numbered rank from SG-1 to SG-33, with eight steps each, fixing the basic salary of every civilian position in the national government, LGUs and GOCCs with an original charter. It has no bearing on private-sector pay, which runs on an entirely different track through regional minimum wage orders.

The system is now in the Third Tranche of the schedule set by Executive Order No. 64, series of 2024, with a Fourth Tranche due January 1, 2027. Because a position’s grade comes from the DBM’s own classification standards, not an agency’s discretion, employees and HR or budget officers alike are better protected by confirming the official grade and current circular before relying on a payroll figure — and by understanding that good faith affects liability for a refund but does not automatically eliminate it.

Sources and Legal Citations

Statutes

[1] Republic Act No. 6758, Compensation and Position Classification Act of 1989, LawPhil Project. Supports: the 33-grade, 8-step Compensation and Position Classification System and its coverage and exemptions. Status: verified official source.

[2] Republic Act No. 11466, Salary Standardization Law of 2019, Supreme Court E-Library. Supports: the prior four-tranche salary schedule (2020–2023) and continuing statutory basis for the compensation system. Status: verified official source.

Executive and Administrative Issuances

[3] Executive Order No. 64, series of 2024, Updating the Salary Schedule for Civilian Government Personnel, LawPhil Project. Supports: the current 2024–2027 four-tranche salary schedule and coverage rules. Status: verified official source.

[4] Department of Budget and Management, National Budget Circular No. 601 (January 22, 2026), Department of Budget and Management. Supports: implementation of the Third Tranche (2026) and the specific peso rates cited in this guide. Status: verified official source.

Labor Code

[5] Department of Labor and Employment, Labor Code of the Philippines, Book Three, Article 82. Supports: the exclusion of government employees from Book Three’s working-conditions coverage. Status: verified official source.

Supreme Court Decisions

[6] Juco v. National Labor Relations Commission, G.R. No. 98107, August 18, 1997, Supreme Court of the Philippines, Supreme Court E-Library. Supports: the distinction between GOCCs with and without an original charter for civil service and salary grade coverage. Status: verified official source.

[7] Mendoza v. Commission on Audit, G.R. No. 195395, September 10, 2013, Supreme Court of the Philippines, Supreme Court E-Library. Supports: the rule that general compensation-fixing authority does not override the salary grade cap absent an explicit exemption. Status: verified official source.

[8] Madera v. Commission on Audit, G.R. No. 244128, September 8, 2020, Supreme Court of the Philippines, Supreme Court E-Library. Supports: the framework for refund liability of approving officers and recipients when a payment exceeding the salary schedule is disallowed. Status: verified official source.

Prepared by: LaborCode.ph Editorial Team
Editorial review: Reviewed under the LaborCode.ph Content Review Policy
Sources rechecked as of: September 7, 2026
Last materially reviewed: September 7, 2026
Article-level legal review status: No named lawyer-review credit has been assigned to this article.
Legal review invitation: Qualified Philippine labor lawyers interested in reviewing this article or suggesting a correction may contact LaborCode.ph.

This guide is for general educational and legal-information purposes only and is not legal advice. Government compensation and position classification depend on specific facts, the applicable DBM issuances in effect at a given time, and current jurisprudence. Figures cited are illustrative of the schedule in effect at the time of writing and may change with later tranches or circulars. Employees and agencies may need assistance from the Department of Budget and Management, the Civil Service Commission, the Commission on Audit, or a qualified Philippine lawyer. LaborCode.ph is an independent information platform and is not a government agency, tribunal or law firm.

Salary Grade in the Philippines: Government Pay Scale Explained