PM Orban on minimum wage increase: Certain degree of urgency, business environment must know in time

Prime Minister Ludovic Orban said on Monday that "there is a certain degree of urgency" regarding the adoption of the decision to increase the minimum wage, specifying that it should be taken by the end of November, the beginning of December, at the latest, so that the business environment knows in time. 

The head of the executive announced that the percentage with which the minimum wage will be raised will be announced after consultations with employers and unions. 

"We want a very serious study, an impact analysis to underpin the decision to raise the minimum wage, because obviously there will be an increase in the minimum wage. We have agreed for a group of experts with the Ministry of Finance, from the structure of the General Secretariat specialized in impact analysis and from the Labour Ministry to prepare such an impact study. We are interested in several parameters, first of all the economic indicators that will be the basis of the economic growth, the impact assessment between a minimum and a maximum increase of the minimum wage, the effects that they record on the private environment, we are very interested in the state of companies in the field where a large number of employees are on the minimum wage, to see their profitability, to evaluate the costs on the labour force. (...) Moreover, I have requested from the Ministry of Finance an analysis regarding the budgetary impact of such a decision, a minimum and a maximum. Once we have a grounded point of view, we will start negotiations with the employers' organizations and the unions. You will find out how much the minimum wage will increase at the end of the negotiations we carry out with the unions and employers' organizations," said Ludovic Orban.