Daily Minimum Wage To Rise To 10,000 Cedis

The Technical Committee under the National Tripartite Committee has proposed ten thousand two hundred cedis as the national daily minimum wage for 2004.

This follows the submission of a report by the committee to the the Minister of Manpower, Employment and Development to consider and make recommendations on the framework for the determination of the minimum wage for this year.

The report recommended that the national daily minimum wage be increased from the current 9,200 cedis to 10,200 cedis, which is just a 10,000 cedis upward adjustment.

Consequently the Minister of Manpower, Employment and Development who received the report has directed the various stakeholders to discuss the technical sub committee and submit their reports within two weeks for final recommendations to government.

Sources close to the leadership of organised labour say they are likely to push for a higher wage even if Finance Minister Yaw Osafo Marfo makes a formal statement in this year’s annual budget as is expected.

The tripartite committee adopted the report of the technical subcommittee. The subcommittee in making the recommendations was guided by the macro economic indicators, which among others include the changes in goods and services, the exchange rate of the national currency, interest rates and the total wage bill as a percentage of total expenditure.

In determining the new minimum wage, the committee considered tax revenue, as a percentage of the Gross Domestic Product survival of business, nutritional needs of workers and total compensation in relation to ratio and equity.

The minimum wage shall apply to all registered establishments in the country with employer-employee relationship, which will be enforced by a legislative instrument.