Minister of Economic Development Fayyaz Ismail has expressed hopes that while the past year was one of notable hardship for workers in the Maldives, the ongoing year of 2021 will bring solutions to persistent issues faced by workers across the country.

Minister Fayyaz made the remarks in a tweet posted on the occasion of Labour Day, and stated that the Ministry of Economic Development will be legally required to establish a minimum wage before the end of this year. Minister Fayyaz went on to add that the Industrial Relations Act and the Occupational Health and Safety Act would be passed before the end of 2021.

The People's Majlis had in the past year brought a number of changes to the Employment Act, including establishing a minimum wage for workers in the Maldives. Under the legislative changes, the Minister of Economic Development will be required to set a minimum wage for workers as under the Employment Act.

The Employment Act also specifies that employers will be required to follow the Economic Minister's directive, once issued, before the end of 2021.

Fisheries and Agriculture sectors

Tourism sector

Construction sector

Transport sector

Health service sector

Education sector

Small and middle-income enterprises

Information, Communication and Technology sectors

Maritime and Shipping sectors

An 11-member board will be advising Economic Minister Fayyaz on determining the minimum wage for workers in these sectors. Prior to the amendments to the Employment Act, the government had previously attempted to install a minimum wage between MVR 4,000 and MVR 8,000 and conducted top-level discussions on the issue.

Establishing a minimum wage for workers in the Maldives had been a major electoral pledge to incumbent President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih.

On the occasion of Labour Day, Spokesperson for the President's Office Mabrook Azeez stated that a number of efforts had been made to develop and sustain businesses across islands of the Maldives under the Solih administration.

Mabrook made the remarks while speaking to Raajje TV, noting that the incumbent administration had undertaken many initiatives to develop the working population. Highlighting the issue, Mabrook revealed that projections showed over 9,000 jobs would be added to the tourism sector alone within the ongoing year.

Spokesperson Mabrook went on to confirm that MVR 906 million had been issued as loans to 721 parties by 15 April 2021, with the most loans issued to wholesale and retail businesses across the country. 1,266 loans were issued for such enterprises, with an additional MVR 107 million issued to increase jobs in the fisheries sector. A further 144 parties were issued loans from the tourism, sector, with 35 parties each from the agriculture and construction sector also issued loans.

Highlighted that all these loans had been issued with the purpose of sustaining and developing businesses across different islands, Mabrook revealed that the efforts were being conducted in all regions of the Maldives.

Adding that loans had been issued to businesses operating in 143 islands in atolls, Mabrook also revealed that over 4,300 jobs had been created across the Maldives over the past two years.

Detailing the government's "Skills for a Resilient Workforce Programme, Spokesperson Mabrook stated that the initiative would be conducted over a year. He went on to confirm that 100 students had been trained for employment under the programme over the past week alone.

Spokesperson Mabrook revealed that the Skills for a Resilient Workforce Programme would create training opportunities for 1,200 youth, in fields such as tourism, information and communications technology, construction and tourism.