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Tuesday, 10 November 2020

Private sector minimum wage delayed by covid-19

LEGISLATION WATCH- A minimum wage won’t be introduced to the private sector anytime soon thanks to covid-19, Al Watan reports, citing an unnamed source from the National Wages Council. The economic fallout from the pandemic makes a legally binding pay rise unfeasible given the losses suffered by factories earlier this year, said the source.

BACKGROUND: The council had met in 2019 to discuss implementing a minimum wage for the more than 24 mn individuals employed in the private sector, and Deputy Planning and Economic Development Minister Ahmed Kamal said last May that the ministry would look to implement a minimum salary of EGP 2k per month, or of EGP 12 per hour, for workers in the private sector after the crisis abates. The national minimum wage for public sector workers had been increased from EGP 1.2k to EGP 2k at the start of FY2019-2020.

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