The Minimum Wage Board has recommended the Economic Ministry to implement MVR 7,000 as minimum wage.
According to the Minimum Wage Board's recommendation, the minimum wage for the public sector was set by using the minimum monthly wage earned by permanent civil servants in six hours as a basemark. However, the public sector hourly rate for employees working less than six hours per day will be MVR 33.65.
The recommendation said a minimum wage of MVR 7,000 was proposed in order to bring a positive change to the public sector in comparison to the hours worked by the public sector. While civil servants earn MVR 53.03 per hour, the board recommends decreasing the difference in the number of work hours between the private and public sector. The minimum wage of the public sector will be reviewed after the change is implemented, it said.
The recommendation further said all other offices and businesses will be considered as public sector. The number of employees as well as the size of the enterprise (small, medium or large business) will be taken into consideration in deciding a rate, it said.
In this regard, the minimum hourly rate recommended for small businesses is MVR 24.04. The rate was decided after taking into consideration the difference in the financial status between small and medium businesses, the board said. The hourly rate for medium enterprises is MVR 33.65, the same rate as the public sector. The rate recommended for large businesses is MVR 42.79 per hour.
The board said it faced challenges in deciding upon a minimum wage due to lack of available information. It proposed to identify ways in which the circumstance can be improved to collect information in a more efficient manner.
