Minimum wage in Belarus to be increased January 1, 2009

The Government of Belarus issued Resolution No 2020 to introduce a new minimum wage. In line with the resolution, the monthly minimum wage will amount to Br229,000, the hourly minimum wage – to Br1,360. Commenting upon the document, Viktor Sidorovich, the chief of the department for regulation and standardization of labour of the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, said that the minimum wage is the lowest amount of money that can legally be paid to a worker. By increasing its amount, the Government protects the income of low-paid categories of workers.

A reminder, on January 1, 2008 the minimum wage was equal to Br208,800. The new minimum wage is 10% higher, Viktor Sidorovich said. According to him, from January 1, 2009 the monthly minimum wage will be equal to 102.7% of the subsistence wage per capita in the prices of September 2008.

The restoration of the role of the minimum wage as the government minimum guarantee of the remuneration of labour is a significant achievement of the Belarusian policy in remuneration of labour (the Law “On introducing the minimum wage and the rules governing the increasing of the minimum wage” was passed on July 17, 2002). The minimum wage has been substantially increased for the past several years. For example, in 2000 the minimum wage was just 9% of the substance wage.