7th Pay Commission: Minimum Wage to jump 28 per cent as Code of Wages 2019 set to come in

New Delhi, Nov 06: The 7th Pay Commission had recommended a minimum salary of Rs 18,000 per month for all Central Government employees.

This meant that if calculated on a 26-day working month, it would work out to Rs 692 per day. With the Union Government now framing the draft rules, the Code on Wages 2019 will come into force soon. This means the national minimum floor wage could go up to 28 per cent.

According to the draft, the central advisory board will fix a statutory national floor wage. This, in fact, would be done for the first time and it would be the basis for the new, multiple minimum wages at both the Central and State levels.

The Code on wages 2019 provides a statutory national floor wage rate and there can be no minimum wages fixed below this by any employer. According to a report in the Hindustan Times, the draft would become final in four months and during this period there would be consultations held.

The floor wage would take into account an equivalent of three adult consumption units, which would include food, clothing and housing. The floor wage would be revised every five years by the Union Government by taking into consideration various factors.

The criteria states that the minimum wages should take into consideration a net intake of 2,700 calories per day consumption unit and 66 metres cloth per year per family apart from the House Rent which is 10 per cent, fuel, electricity, spending on children's education, recreation and medical needs. The expenditure on emergencies would stand at 25 per cent.

The national average minimum wage is Rs 4,628 a month. It may be recalled that on October 18, the Supreme Court had provisionally allowed the Delhi government to raise it to Rs 14,842.

The 7th Pay Commission which recommended the minimum salary of Rs 18,000 will be the notional basis for hiking the floor wage, the report further stated.