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Minister of Labour and Social Protection Violeta Alexandru said on Tuesday that she has not yet consolidated an opinion on the amount to which the minimum wage will increase, and in the Ministry of Labor there is no recent study to evaluate the impact of the measure of increasing the minimum wage.
In the discussions with the parliamentarians from the Committee for Labour and Social Protection of the Chamber of Deputies, she accused the former Social Democratic Party (PSD) Government's draft of raising by 100 lei the minimum wage as of 1 January 2020 of populism and lack of budgetary basis.
"No impact study has been done in the Ministry to substantiate this project. This is not how decisions are made in a normal country where you are aware that there is a budgetary impact. I was shown [by the PSD MPs] a material, a study, from 2016. Since then the reality has changed, there is no recent study in the ministry that has substantiated the initiative of the former Government to launch in the public space a draft Government decision regarding the setting of the new minimum salary. There is no recent study. However, (...) I am trying to do everything humanly possible to make up for the lost months and repair a way of working that was deeply populist and which shows its consequences every day," said Violeta Alexandru, during the discussions with MPs from the Labour Committee.
She said that she will convene the Tripartite National Council very soon, for consultations on the level up to which the minimum salary will be increased and stressed that the National Liberal Party (PNL) Government has other concerns than the minimum salary, especially aimed at increasing the incomes of Romanians based on competence.
"Regarding the Pay Law, we respect the law, I have said this many times. (...) I respect the law in force," said Violeta Alexandru.
