Haidar says previous gov’t to blame for delay in minimum wage review

Minister of Higher Education, Labour and Skills Development Dr. Ali Haidar Ahmed has implied that the failure to review the minimum wage stemmed from the previous government’s inaction.

The minister made these comments while responding to a question posed by MP for Kendhoo constituency Mauroof Zakir at Monday’s parliamentary sitting.

MP Mauroof brought to light that according to the Employment Act, the minister must review the minimum wage for employees working in the Maldives every two years. However, since more than three years have passed since January 2022 without a review, the lawmaker inquired why there has been a delay in reviewing the minimum wage. In addition to this, he inquired when the minimum wage would be reviewed and increased at the earliest.

Minister Haidar stated that the minimum wage was first established on 8 November 2021, and therefore, the date for reviewing it should have been 8 November 2023. He added that because the previous government did not review the minimum wage, they had to reconstitute the Minimum Wage Review Board. Despite the minister's statement, the minimum wage implementation began in 2022.

The minister said that the board was formed in July 2024, and it took some time to retrieve documents from the previous board. He also mentioned that the technical experts who worked on this had left, making it difficult to find experienced individuals for the task.

To address the issue, the minister added that they held a consultation meeting with the International Labour Organization (ILO) towards the end of last year and submitted a proposal to seek technical assistance from the ILO. He added that the ILO sent a technical note on May 20 in response to the proposal.

The minister stated that the ILO advised to divide the work into two phases. Accordingly, they are currently working on gathering information on minimum wage implementation, labor information, workers, and household income.

Noting that the work will proceed as soon as the labor survey is completed, Haidar emphasized that determining the minimum wage requires extensive research, and related tasks are expected to be completed by December.

During the additional questioning opportunity, members inquired about setting a minimum wage for expatriates and determining the maximum working hours. In response to this, the minister said these matters would be decided after the board conducts its research.