Poland’s government has proposed raising the minimum monthly wage to 2,800 zloty next year, marking a 7.7% increase on the current level. The new figure falls short of its 2019 electoral promise that a minimum wage of 3,000 zloty would be introduced before 2021.
On Tuesday the government, led by the Law and Justice (PiS) party, proposed new figures for 2021 of 2,800 zloty (€634), rising from the current level of 2,600 zloty (€588). The hourly minimum wage would increase to 18.30 zloty (€4.14) from 17 zloty (€3.85), reports PAP.
The new wage floor, however, falls short of promises ahead of the 2019 parliamentary elections, when PiS chairman Jarosław Kaczyński promised that the minimum wage would increase to 3,000 zloty by the end of 2020 and 4,000 by the end of 2023.
Kaczyński today launched a 'hat-trick' of election pledges: raising the minimum wage, doubling the recent annual payment introduced for pensioners and increasing farm subsidies to 'European level'.
But he also outlined the values PiS stands for…[Thread] https://t.co/r31UInCUkJ
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) September 7, 2019
Speaking at a press conference, labour minister Marlena Maląg said that such a rise would be “optimal” given the economic fallout caused by the coronavirus pandemic as well as other micro- and macroeconomic factors.
“As a result the minimum wage will be 53.2% of the forecasted average wage in the national economy in 2021,” said Maląg, suggesting that it would be relatively “high” compared to other wages in Poland. She added that 1.75 million Poles would see a pay rise as a result of the minimum wage increase.
Representatives of workers’ unions have spoken out against the proposal, calling the rise “certainly too small”. They argue that a better level for the minimum wage would be 3,100 zloty (€702), noting that Kaczyński’s earlier pledges should be revised up to account for the economic blow dealt by the pandemic and Poland’s accelerating inflation, reports Business Insider.
The proposed minimum wage will now we considered by the Council for Social Dialogue (RDS), a public body charged with negotiating the level proposed by the government each year with workers and employers.
Earlier this year, Statistics Poland, a state agency, revealed that wages in Poland reached their highest ever level in December. The new record, based on a salary average for companies employing over 10 people, hit 5,604 zloty (around €1,300) per month gross, representing a year-on-year rise of 6.2%.
Main image credit: Adam Guz/KPRM/Flickr (under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
Maria Wilczek is deputy editor of Notes from Poland. She is a regular writer for The Times, The Economist and Al Jazeera English, and has also featured in Foreign Policy, Politico Europe, The Spectator and Gazeta Wyborcza.
