14 August 2020, Friday, 13:36 130

Minimum Wage Will Increase From September To UAH 5,000, From 2021 - To UAH 6,000, By 2022 - To UAH 6,500 - Zelenskyy

Редактор: Daria Zubkova

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy states that the minimum wage will increase from September to UAH 5,000, from 2021 - to UAH 6,000, and by 2022 - to UAH 6,500.

Ukrainian News Agency learned this from a statement on the President's website.

"I am sure that MPs will vote for the bill submitted by the President of Ukraine to increase the minimum wage to five thousand hryvnia. Then the second stage of this program is to increase from 2021 to six thousand hryvnia. And during 2021 there will be a third part - we will increase up to six and a half thousand hryvnia," he said.

Zelenskyy asks parliament to support a bill on raising the minimum wage to UAH 5,000 at an extraordinary meeting on August 25, after Independence Day.

"The increase in the minimum wage will help bring Ukrainians’ wages out of the shadows, when the employer officially sets the employee the lowest salary allowed by law, and gives the rest of the salary in an envelope, evading the payment of a unified social tax," the statement reads.

Also, according to Zelenskyy, after the increase, the incomes of public sector workers (teachers, doctors, social workers) will grow, since their official salaries are calculated according to a single tariff scale tied to the minimum wage.

Chairperson of the Council of the National Bank Bohdan Danylyshyn called this initiative timely.

"In the first half of 2020, the population's savings decreased by almost 6%. An increase in the minimum wage will somehow increase incomes and, accordingly, increase the possibility of savings. Therefore, an increase in the minimum wage even to the announced value is necessary and expedient at this moment," he said.

In turn, the chairperson of the Federation of Trade Unions Hryhorii Osovyi noted that the wage fund in the structure of production costs in Ukraine is very insignificant - at the level of 5-8%, while in European countries it is 25-30%, so the business has a resource for increase in salaries.

As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, the European Business Association believes that increasing the burden on the wage fund by increasing the minimum wage during the crisis may lead to an increase in the number of wages in envelopes.

At the moment, the minimum monthly salary is UAH 4,723, excluding taxes.