The minimum wage in the private sector is changing slowly and does not keep pace with the movement of the dollar in the market, leading to a loss of purchasing power and defeating the purpose of its increase. While the slow adjustment in the private sector is matched by a near absence in the public sector, due to the mechanism for approving increases and the differing nature of work in the two sectors, employees from both sectors advocate for a dynamic minimum wage that corresponds to the dollar's value to maintain purchasing power.
#### Adjustments Between Sectors
The amount of 675 thousand lira is no longer recognized as the minimum wage in the private sector. This figure has changed repeatedly, reaching 4 million and 500 thousand lira, which was approved by the Index Committee on Friday, January 13, following a meeting at the Ministry of Labor with the participation of economic bodies and the General Labor Union, representing workers and employers. This increase in the minimum wage was accompanied by a raise in the daily transportation allowance to 125 thousand lira. Everyone is now awaiting approval from the Council of State before transferring the file to the Council of Ministers to issue a decree bringing it into effect.
This amendment also affects the amount of contributions paid to the National Social Security Fund, as it is linked to the contributions of workers, employers, and the state. With the increase in the minimum wage, these contributions rise, allowing the fund to generate higher revenues to improve health coverage, medical care, and end-of-service benefits for beneficiaries.
Changing the numbers does not alter the course of events. Health coverage under social security has become almost unacceptable in private hospitals, which request payment for medical expenses in dollars or lira at market rates. As for public hospitals, they do not refuse patients, but simply have nothing to offer beyond their limited capacities constrained by weak revenue in lira.
Prices of goods have the ability to deplete salaries during the first week of every month. Thus, increases that do not correlate with the movement of the dollar fail to ensure food and health security for employees.
This situation is common among employees in both the private and public sectors. Unionist Bahiyyah Baalbaki from the Free Patriotic Movement points out that "what the state gives with its right hand, it plans how to take back with its left, which is what happened after the approval of the salary scale." Baalbaki, during a conversation with "Al-Modon," combines the suffering of active employees with that of retirees, stating that "what is given to employees and retirees barely covers 10% of their needs, threatening their health and food security." Instead of finding a suitable solution, "the state resorts to settlements and bribes offered to certain sectors at the expense of others to create a rift between them, making it easier to control them. The evidence is what was given to judges and no one else."
#### Dynamic Minimum Wage
What the Index Committee is attempting to achieve by creating a view of wages that brings together the interests of the state, employers, and workers is not supported by economic expert Roy Badaro. He argues, in a conversation with "Al-Modon," that adjusting the minimum wage should be approached differently from what the committee currently adopts. In any case, the representatives in the Index Committee are not the ideal reference to determine a suitable minimum wage. According to Badaro, "the Index Committee has turned into a bazaar between what are called economic bodies and the General Labor Union, both of which have been devoid of authority for a long time."
Adjusting the minimum wage "should be conducted by economic specialists who determine what is required of the minimum wage. Is it necessary to achieve competitive capacity or to reach a certain standard of living? What basic goods should be included in the minimum wage? Should it be decided to match those just beginning their work or those who have been employed longer and have families?"
From this standpoint, "the minimum wage should be dynamic. When the exchange rate of the dollar changes as it does today, the minimum wage should keep pace with this change and be set at the end of each month. Social security contributions on salaries and wages should be paid according to the movement of the dollar's exchange rate, benefiting the employee and providing social security with the actual value of salaries and wages." Those who do not agree from the economic bodies with this arrangement "can close their institutions. No one can excuse themselves by claiming an inability to pay because those institutions profit at the expense of the poor."
Regarding salary and wage adjustments in the public sector, Badaro supports the notion that the state gives with one hand and takes with the other. As for correcting the imbalance in this sector, "that's a lengthy discussion." He emphasizes that "a plan should be developed to gradually transfer excess employees from the public sector to the private sector over a period of 5 to 10 years because it is no longer possible to continue in this way; the public sector is a sector riddled with political patronage, and the people should also understand that the state is not a cash cow."
The indicators of purchasing power and the rising dollar rate in the market provide data that is neither supported by employers nor recognized by the state. Therefore, solutions fail to cover the gap between the value of salaries and wages and living requirements. Any agreed-upon adjustment comes too late and remains valueless unless the fluctuations of the dollar cease.
