Ukraine's social minister proposes to raise minimum wage to US$191 in 2019

Ukrainian Social Policy Minister Andriy Reva says the ministry considers the need to raise the minimum wage in Ukraine to UAH 4,200 (US$160) in 2018 and to UAH 5,000 ($191) in 2019.

In addition, the ministry's priority projects involve agreeing on a bill on raising pensions for servicemen, drafting a law on employment, and passing a bill on social services, the ministry's press service said.

The major tasks are also the adoption of bills on the payment of single social security tax from the entire amount of wages [labor rate plus bonus], on targeted state social assistance, as well as the introduction of a reform related to providing services to persons with disabilities.

Read alsoIMF seeing no opportunity for raising minimum wage in Ukraine"The fulfillment of the tasks set will allow for a quality change of Ukraine's social service system, in practice ensuring the principle of justice and putting interests and rights of each person first," the press service said in a statement.

As UNIAN reported earlier, the minimum wage in Ukraine has increased from UAH 3,200 ($122) to UAH 3,723 ($142) since January 1, 2018.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in December 2017 initiated a rise of the minimum wage in 2018 to UAH 4,100 ($156). The national budget for 2018 provides for raising the minimum wage to UAH 3,723. At the same time, the law on the state budget says, "The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine based on monitoring the implementation of the State Budget of Ukraine for the first quarter of 2018 [Q1] shall consider the possibility of raising the minimum wage, setting it at UAH 4,200 per month from Q2 2018."

Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister Pavlo Rozenko says the decision on raising the minimum wage to UAH 4,100 will be made taking into account the Q1 2018 economic results.