Lithuania’s Tripartite Council, representing the country’s government, employers and trade unions, has failed to reach an agreement on raising the minimum monthly wage from next year and will submit different opinions to the government.
“We will propose recording separate opinions, and the government will be asked to make an immediate decision so that businesses can plan their activities for the next year,” Aurelija Maldutyte, a member of the Presidium of the Lithuanian Confederation of Employers, who chairs the council, said at the Tripartite Council meeting on September 13.
Trade unions believe the minimum monthly wage should rise according to the Bank of Lithuania’s formula by 21.6%, to 888 euros as of January 1, 2023. Meanwhile, the majority of employers’ representatives say the minimum wage could rise to 800 euros.
Mindaugas Liutvinskas, a deputy finance minister, regretted the fact that the Tripartite Council again failed to reach an agreement on raising the minimum wage, adding that the government would have to make a decision “somewhere in the middle” between 800 and 888 euros.
This year, the pre-tax minimum monthly wage is 730 euros (550 euros after tax). (LRT/Business World Magazine)
