Economy performance is essential guarantee of the process of increasing the minimum wage, claims the Prime Minister

Information and Communication Department of the Secretariat of the CMU, posted 02 June 2018 12:00

The economy performance and its sustainable growth is an essential guarantee of the process of increasing the minimum wage and the average wage across the country. The Prime Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Groysman said on air of one of the TV channels.

He stressed that in 2014-2015 there were no objective reasons to speak of wage increases. And, in fact, it was the Government of Volodymyr Groysman that first raised the issue of the "minimum wage" growth to 3,200 UAH from January 1, 2017.

"The current minimum wage makes up UAH 3,723. As soon as I have the least opportunity to do this (to raise the minimum wage), I will do it with pleasure. I am the initiator and supporter of this process. The main thing is the economic potential", said Volodymyr Groysman.

No less important, according to him, is the average salary rate. "On the results of the year it should be about UAH 10,000. In Ukraine, the amount of jobs with a high rate of pay should grow", said the Prime Minister.

He stressed that the Government fulfills all social obligations. Namely, this year pensions have been raised to the military retirees. And next year pensions for employees having a long record of service will increase.

"But it's crucial to ensure the economy development. Much needs to be done. To open up opportunities for investment. If there are investments, there will be growth. It is important to have people's trust, the trust of partners", the Head of Government noted.

Background

In Ukraine in April the average wage rose to UAH 8,480, which is 0.4% higher than the March figure and 12.5% higher as compared to April 2017. According to the data of the State Statistics Service of Ukraine, the average real wage is 2.3 times higher than the approved minimum wage. With regard to industriles the higher salaries than average were paid in, primarily extractive and pharmaceutical, in mechanical engineering, traditionally in the financial sector and transport.