From protests to paychecks: How state unrest triggered a wage rethink
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.The Centre is exploring plans to sharply raise the national daily minimum wage to ₹350-450, at a time workers’ protests have prompted wage hikes in Uttar Pradesh and Haryana.The Union labour ministry is working on fixing minimum wages for all workers in skilled, semi-skilled and unskilled categories, two people aware of the development said. Once a national floor is set, states will be compelled to revise their minimum wages accordingly, as wages cannot be set below the national floor.
The monthly payout will be 26 times the final daily wage.Under the Code on Wages, 2019, the floor wage is a single baseline fixed by the Centre, and applies to all categories such as skilled, semi-skilled and unskilled.“The government is in the process of finalizing the floor wage, and discussions on the same are in the final leg,” said one of the two people cited above, adding that consultations with states, industries and other stakeholders are almost complete. The current national floor wage of ₹176 was set in 2017.The development assumes significance given the worker disgruntlement and the widening gap between the pace of real wages and corporate profits.
The Economic Survey 2024-25 noted that despite Indian companies maintaining a stable Ebitda margin of around 22% over the past four years, wage growth has moderated. Ebitda stands for Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization (Ebitda), and is a measure of profitability.
The uneven trend raises concerns, with wage stagnation particularly evident in entry-level IT roles, the Survey noted.At the central level, the changes are being made under the new labour codes, the second person said. “As all four labour codes have been notified
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