Mozambique: Minimum wage increases of between five and 12 per cent – AIM report

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Mozambique: Minimum wage increases of between five and 12 per cent – AIM report

11:59 CAT | 01 May 2019

Photo: O Pais

The Mozambican government on Tuesday approved new statutory minimum wages, taking effect as from 1 April.

Wages are negotiated on a sectoral basis, and there are now 17 sectors and sub-sectors. The increases this year range between five and 12 per cent.

Speaking at the end of a meeting of the Council of Ministers (Cabinet), Labour Minister Vitoria Diogo said the increases were negotiated as from February in the Labour Consultative Commission (CCT), which is the tripartite forum between the government, the trade unions and the employers’ organisations.

Diogo said the negotiations resulted in consensus on the wage rises, and the government has now approved that consensus. The lowest paid sectors remain agriculture and fishing, and the highest paid is financial services.

The rises in the monthly minimum wage announced by the government, sector by sector, are as follows. The previous wage is shown in brackets.

1. Agriculture, hunting and forestry – 5.78 per cent: 4,390 meticais, equivalent to 68.6 US dollars at current exchange rates (previously: 4,063 meticais).

2. Industrial and semi-industrial fishing – five per cent: 5,370 meticais (previously: 5,113 meticais)

a) The Kapenta (Lake Tanganyika sardine) fishery on the Cahora Bassa reservoir in Tete province – five per cent: 4,266 meticais (previously, 4.063 meticais)

3. Mining – 12 per cent: 9,254 meticais (previously, 8,262 meticais)

a) Quarries and sandpits – 10 per cent: 6,379 meticais (previously, 5,798 meticais

b) Salt pans – six per cent, 5,318 meticais (previously, 5,018 meticais).

4. Manufacturing industry – 5.74 per cent: 7,000 meticais (previously, 6,142 meticais)

a) Bakeries – 6.03 per cent, 5,000 meticais (previously, 4,699 meticais).

5. Electricity, gas and water, large companies – 6.41 per cent, 8,300 meticais (previously, 7,796 meticais)

a) Small companies – 6.41 per cent, 6,760 meticais (previously, 6,422 meticais).

6. Building industry – 6.04 per cent, 6,136 meticais (previously, 5,786 meticais).

7. Non-financial services – 9.06 per cent, 6,850 meticais (previously, 6,249 meticais)

a) Hotel industry – 10.02 per cent, 6,478 meticais (previously, 5,451 meticais).

8. Banking, insurance and other financial services – 7.25 per cent, 12,760 meticais (previously, 11,897 meticais)

a) Micro-finance – 7.25 per cent, 11,336 meticais (previously, 10,570 meticais)

9. Public sector employees – five per cent, 4,467 meticais (previously 4,255 meticais).

Diogo said the new minimum wages were agreed after a “deep negotiation”, which included a survey of the country’s economic realities. She believed the increases were what could be afforded, if the current number of jobs was to be maintained.

The wage increases are higher than the rate of inflation which, according to the National Statistics Institute (INE), was 3.52 per cent in 2018. However, inflation could increase significantly this year, particularly in light of the huge damage to the economy done by cyclones Idai and Kenneth, in March and April.

For the private sector, the government only sets the minimum wage. All wages above the minimum are negotiated between the employers and the unions.

Source: AIM