Lao labor officials are being asked to speed up a proposal to raise the country's minimum wage as food prices continue to soar in Laos due to inflation, local media reports said on Tuesday.
"I observe that our laborers are suffering from the rising cost of living in Laos, particularly the higher food prices. Laborers who are single might be doing OK but those with wives and children face great difficulties living on low wages," Khamla Loonesy, President of the Lao Federation of Trade Unions (LFTU), was quoted by the state-run Vientiane Times as saying.
LFTU, the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare and the National Chamber of Commerce and Industry have agreed in principle to increase the minimum wage to help low-income laborers manage in light of rising living costs in Laos, but the exact amount has yet to be decided.
Khamla told the newspaper that the three sectors would meet next month to discuss the establishment of a committee to study any wage increase in comparison to the country's inflation rate, and draft a proposal for the wage increase to submit to the government for approval before the middle of the year.
He said they would propose minimum wage of at least 700,000 kip (around 86.59 U.S. dollar), a figure which was rejected by the government two years ago. Laborers on minimum wage currently earn about 500,000 kip (around 61.85 U.S. dollars) per month in Laos.
The Lao government agreed to increase the minimum wage from 290, 000 kip (around 35.87 U.S. dollars) to 348,000 kip (around 43.05 U. S. dollars) per month in 2009, the first increase in several years, but in September inflation reached 8.14 percent, the highest monthly rate in 2010, according to the paper.
A spokesman for the Lao Garment Industry Association, Onesy Boutsivongsakd, said the minimum wage increase should not exceed inflation to avoid a negative impact on the export sector, as the Lao kip is still strong compared to the U.S. dollar, and a higher minimum wage could make Lao products less competitive in the global market./.