He calculated how much MMA could rise next year: Fears that not everyone could afford that salary

“If we look at the economic development scenario and the projected growth of the average salary, which is significantly higher than the one predicted by the ministry, the monthly minimum salary should be about 638 euros next year”, says E. Radišauskienė in the program “Delfi diena”.

The MMA currently stands at € 607, before taxes.

“This amount is paid for unskilled work, we look at it responsibly, because if we significantly increase the taxation of unskilled work, that is, the price, automatically qualified workers should also receive a little more. It is necessary to evaluate the whole situation ”, adds the vice minister.

“The significant increase in MMA also increases shading and other problems. The position can be reduced. During the quarantine period, we have significantly increased the number of people receiving MMA, so we have to go back to the state it was in at the beginning of the year, when we only had a small percentage, ”he explains.

Meanwhile, Inga Ruginienė, president of the Lithuanian Trade Union Confederation, says the MMA should be further increased.

“We estimate that the minimum wage next year should be 663 euros,” he says.

“Today we see that the economy is improving remarkably and the curves have risen significantly. The worst case scenario that we talked about during the quarantine did not come true. We draw conclusions based on that,” explains I. Ruginienė.

Several employees are still down

According to E. Radišauskienė, MMA receives the largest number of employees in the sectors most affected by the pandemic, which still need state subsidies.

“We see that VMU is the one that is growing the most in the public sector, while there are not so many MMA winners there. Secondly, we see the sectors that suffered the most during the quarantine, that is, the service sectors that practically lived off subsidies. We still see that there is a need for them. We will responsibly discuss how much we can increase, because many of the sectors that have suffered the most, pay MMA “, says E. Radišauskienė.

“So far, a significant number of people are in downtime and enough employers are using wage subsidies. That is why we say that we must evaluate responsibly, not calculate blindly and see more than just forecasts,” he says.

Meanwhile, I. Ruginienė says that employees live in the hope that wages will go up, because the worst-case scenario, for which they were intimidated, did not happen.

“Employers saved at the expense of employees. The employees were in solidarity, they gave part of their salary, some of them also their jobs, so now the system should take them into account as well, ”says the president of the Trade Union Confederation.

“We must also take into account the fact that in the private sector, as well as in some places in the public sector, the MMA is an indicator, an indexing coefficient, and as the MMA increases, the salary of a skilled workforce increases. automatically, “he says on Delfi Day.