A minimum wage is to be announced on Monday.
Speaking to RaajjeMV, Minister of Economic Development Fayyaz Ismail revealed that awarding a minimum wage will bring positive changes and progress for the country’s economy. As such, positive impacts should also be brought to workers and businesses.
The minister remains hopeful that the entire structure of the economy will experience positive progress with the allocation of a minimum wage.
The government has decided to allocate a minimum wage with the aim of reducing the differences in working hours for those employed in the public and private sectors. Finance Minister Ibrahim Ameer has since revealed that 500 million MVR has been allocated in the state budget for 2022 for this purpose.
Presenting the 2022 state budget proposal to the People’s Majlis, Minister Ameer revealed that one of the biggest government initiatives that has been a priority is to ensure fair wages for workers and to ensure equality in the workplace. allocation of salaries.
A minimum wage must be allocated and implemented from 2022.
In order to meet the objective of reducing the differences in working hours for people employed in the public and private sectors in similar positions, a new remuneration framework should be established to be implemented from the year next, in phases of “harmonization”.
The minimum wage amount for employees was finalized by the Minimum Wage Council on October 5 and forwarded to the Minister. As such, the minimum wage for small businesses in the private sector is MVR 24.04 per hour, which equates to MVR 5,000 per month. Persons employed in medium-sized private sector companies will be entitled to MVR 33.65 per hour amounting to MVR 7,000 per month and MVR 42.79 per hour amounting to MVR 8,900 per month, for those employed in large companies.
The minimum wage for permanent public sector workers who spend up to six hours at work is set at 7,000 MVR. Those who work in the public sector less than six hours per day will be entitled to MVR 33.65 per hour.
The ministry is reviewing the recommended minimum wage, as part of the legal mandate.
The Employment Law mandates the Minister of the Economy to decide on a minimum wage by the end of 2021. The imposition of a minimum wage was one of the many amendments made by the People’s Majlis to the employment law. The law provides that the minister must decide on the minimum wage and that employers must give the minimum wage to their employees by the end of 2021, focusing specifically on nine sectors.
Target industries are agriculture and fishing, tourism industry, construction industry, transport industry, health sector, education sector, small and medium enterprise sector , the communication and information technology sector and the maritime transport industry.
An 11-member council has been formed to advise the minister on the allocation of a minimum wage. Before the amendment was tabled, the government proposed a minimum wage of between 4,000 and 8,000 MVR, which was followed by important discussions. The Minimum Wage Council recommended that the base wage be 6,400 MVR, with civil servants and those in the tourism industry being required to achieve a minimum wage of between 6,400 MVR and 8,600 MVR.
