The national minimum salary for the next year could be increased in two stages – on January 1 and July 1. This has been proposed after the unions insisted that it should be 5,000 lei, an amount that would increase budget expenses by over 1 billion lei, which the Ministry of Finance says it cannot afford straight away.
An alternative proposal is to set the minimum at 5,000 lei for the real sector, and 4,000 lei for the public sector and smaller ones. The subject was discussed at the meeting of the National Commission for Consultations and Collective Bargaining.
“We propose a national minimum salary of 5,000 lei for 2023. And for this amount we have some good reasons. We want not only a quantitative increase in salary, but also a qualitative increase. The first reason is that the minimum salary can give employees the opportunity to benefit from a minimum pension. However, currently an employee who receives 3,500 lei cannot benefit from a minimum pension based on salary calculations, but the state compensates the difference. The second reason is that the minimum salary in Moldova should finally represent 50% of the forecasted average salary. The third reason is extremely high inflation, which currently stands at 34%. Inflation must be taken into account in salary increases, especially since, if there is a 34% increase, this would mean an indexation, not an actual increase”, declared the president of the National Confederation of Trade Unions, Igor Zubcu.
Leonid Cerescu, the president of the National Employers’ Confederation, said that employers support the increase. But, according to him, for an increase to 5,000 lei, it is necessary to amend the tariff system legislation.
Minister of Labor and Social Protection Marcel Spatari welcomed today’s discussions. “We have unified the concept of the minimum salary for the budget and real sectors of the economy, although the process has not yet been completed. In the public sector we are not really talking about a minimum salary, we are talking about a guaranteed minimum amount. However, the minimum salary must be the basic salary. I hope this will be resolved”, noted the minister.
Marcel Spatari said that the increase of the national minimum salary to 5,000 lei could be possible in two stages, as an alternative, for example, to 4,000 lei from January 1, and a revision in July 1.
The unions criticized the proposal. In this context, it was proposed to establish at branch level, in the real sector, a minimum salary of five thousand lei, and sectors such as small trade, to remain at the level of the budget salary of four thousand lei - which would be for the whole country.
In September 2022, the Government approved the unification of the minimum wage at the country level for a full work schedule of 169 hours in the amount of 3500 lei, both in the public and in the real sector.
