In accordance with Section 24 (d) of the Minimum Wage Law, committees from regions and states have to submit their report on revising the minimum wage every two years to the national minimum wage committee.
While revising minimum wage, the regional and state committees are required to take into account the views of the representatives of the government, employers, employees, and experts before writing their reports for the national committee.
When experts and representatives review the conditions to revise the legal minimum wage, they should take into consideration long-term stability at the worksite and ensure that the minimum wage supports the country’s GDP and economic development.
We are confident that their discussion at the workshop in Nay Pyi Taw would help create a policy that will guarantee a legal minimum wage that supports both workers and employers.
In fact, the legal minimum wage is the result of the discussion between the representatives of the government, Hluttaw, employers, employees, and experts, after reviewing all conditions related with the minimum wage and international conditions.
Significantly, the minimum wage was set through tripartite social discussions between employers’ associations, workers’ organizations, and government representatives in 2015, and the country’s daily minimum wage for an eight-hour work day was set at K3,600. The wage was increased to K4,800 in May, 2017. The revised wage has applied to all businesses with 10 or more employees, irrespective of the location or type of work.
Everybody deserves a living wage. However, we need to be aware that the legal minimum wage can sometimes affect the bottom line of small business and even lead to their closure.
The increase in minimum wage every two years is an important milestone for our country and an example of the legislative body, the administrative body, employers, and employees rolling up their sleeves and putting in the work to make things better for the people they serve.
It’s an excellent way to start the Myanmar traditional new year, and we hope for more bold initiatives like in 2015 and 2017, when we introduced the legal minimum wage believing that it would bring positive results in terms of reducing poverty and inequality.-GNLM
