A second review of minimum wage levels is scheduled to begin in November 2023, according to Lei Wai Nong, the secretary for economy and finance. He was speaking at the legislature yesterday during the passage of the amended minimum wage bill.
Lei’s remarks came after legislators, including José Pereira Coutinho and Ron Lam, criticised the more than three years taken to conduct the first review, arguing that delayed wage increases would not allow those in the low-income category to keep up with inflation.
The secretary acknowledged that the community wanted to see a reduction in the time between reviews, but pointed out that the process involved the collection of a huge amount of data. “Even data collected for last year by the Statistics and Census Service is still being revised,” he remarked.
[See more: Macao’s minimum wage set for increase next year]
During the session, Lei said that there would also be an increase in the income supplement for disabled employees. Some 222 applications were received from the program’s launch in November 2020 to the second quarter of this year and subsidies totalling 1.5 million patacas paid out.
Set to come into force on 1 January 2024, the new earnings legislation will boost minimum wages to 7,072 patacas a month or 1,536 patacas a week.
Employees who are paid by the day will have their salary raised to 272 patacas, while those who work for hourly pay will see a jump to 34 patacas.
—With reporting by Kenny Fong
