CNI News
2 Dec 2022
The minimum wage will be raised only after economic growth of the country has been retained and whether to raise the minimum wage is still under discussion, Permanent Secretary U Nyunt Win of the Ministry of Labour told the CNI.
The permanent secretary made the remarks when he was asked about the comments made by the union minister at the work coordination meeting on 25 November that the ministry was taking measures to set the minimum wage for the entire country without distinguishing regions and types of job.
U Nyunt Win told the CNI, "We are still discussing whether to raise the minimum wage or not. The prime minister said that as raising wages depended on the economic growth of the country, efforts must be made for the economic growth of the country first and then such issues would be taken into consideration. So, we are just reviewing the issue as an office procedure and no significant steps have been taken."
A demonstration of workers calling for increased minimum wages. (Reuters)
As the daily minimum wage in neighbouring Thailand is set at about MMK 35,000, Myanmar should raise its minimum wage to MMK 10,000 or 15,000 per day due to rising commodity prices, labour activists told the CNI.
It is not reasonable to refuse to raise the minimum wage due to lack of economic growth, Executive Director U Htoo Chit of the Foundation for Education and Development told the CNI.
He told the CNI, "It is true that the political situation and economy of the country have not made any progress. However, it is a tradition to raise the minimum wage to cover the daily increasing cost of living. It is not sensible to refuse to increase the minimum wage of workers due to lack of progress in politics and the economy. If they want to contribute to the well-being of workers, increasing the minimum wage is not enough. Social security is very important. One can compare the compensations for the death of a worker at the worksite in Thailand and in Myanmar. There is a wide gap between compensations for death or disabity of workers in the two countries. So, they still need to go a long way to take proper steps for social security of workers by spending social security funds."
Factory workers in Yangon.
The minimum wage in Myanmar was increased from MMK 3,600 to MMK 4,800 per day (8 hours) in 2018 due to labour strikes and demands of the federation of trade unions.
Labour activists demanded to increase the minimum wage to MMK 8,000 but authorities set it at MMK 4,800, Ma Myo Myo Aye of the Solidarity Trade Union of Myanmar told the CNI.
She told the CNI, "I have participated in the minimum wage campaign since the minimum wage was set for the first time in Myanmar. The minimum must be reviewed every two years and raised based on commodity prices and the political situation. It took more than two years when the minimum wage was set for the second time. It must be raised in 2017 but the then president increased it in May, 2018. Authorities failed to raise it in 2020. We cannot expect a significant rise in the minimum wage. Some employers may not agree to raise the minimum wage significantly. So, authorities will raise only a small amount that is acceptable for employers. At the same time, trade unions are not very strong at present because they are focusing on the revolution and do not talk much about the minimum wage. So, I don't think authorities will raise it significantly."
Although it is stipulated in section 5 (J) that the minimum wage must be reviewed every two year, it has been four years since it was reviewed and raised.
