Punjab raises minimum wage to Rs32,000

By
Business Desk
|
Labours pack tomatoes in wooden boxes at Hyderabad’s vegetable market. — APP
Labours pack tomatoes in wooden boxes at Hyderabad’s vegetable market. — APP

In a sigh of relief for workers amid skyrocketing inflation, the Punjab caretaker government on Thursday raised the minimum wage from Rs25,000 to Rs32,000 a month for unskilled workers.

According to a notification, the interim government has increased the minimum monthly wage by Rs7,000.

In April last year, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, in his first speech in the National Assembly as the premier, raised the minimum wage of government employees to Rs25,000. He also announced a 10% increase in civil and military pensions for retired employees.

Following his announcement, the Punjab government fixed minimum wage at Rs25,000 on April 22.

On January 31, 2023, former president and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Co-chairperson Asif Ali Zardari proposed the coalition government to raise the minimum wage to Rs35,000.

Zardari had said that the decision regarding fixing the salary of workers should be made at the government level.

“It is the responsibility of the government to provide relief to the [workers],” he had said, adding that far-reaching steps should be taken to address the problems being faced by the masses.