Uzbekistan raises wages for the poor

Unskilled workers will from now on receive their wages not at the base rate but the first rate, although the government has not explained the difference between them.

A Tashkent-based observer explains the lack of information on the latest move by the authorities' desire to conceal the fact that many people in Uzbekistan are paid at the base rate which equals the minimum wage.

The minimum monthly wage stands at 72,355 sums ($26) in Uzbekistan.

The observer said that the current wages were "enough only to feed a cat especially if she also eats at the rubbish dump".

on the wage of 72,000 sums did not look favourable when Uzbek websites quoted Senator Alisher Burhanov as telling the Narodnoye Slovo newspaper that 360,000 people received wages at the base rate in the country in 2011.

Tashkent-based accountant Viktoriya Vinogradova explained that in order to calculate the size of the first-rate wage the minimum wage should be multiplied by a corresponding coefficient which differs depending on the nature of job. For example, for doctors and pharmacists it is 3.148.

This coefficient averages 2.476, which means those who received 72,000 sums would now be paid 179,000 sums a month.

Cleaners and unskilled workers were paid at the base rate in the country.

The latest changes in legislation will concern not only public sector workers but also the private sector where wages are set in line with contracts signed.

Entrepreneurs will no more be allowed to pay less than 179,000 to their full-time employees, which will be good in provinces where businessmen pay their employees very little to maximise their profits.

Vinogradova believes that the authorities increased the minimum pay in order to reduce social tension among the poor.

The latest changes came into force on 11 September after the Uzbek president signed amendments and addenda to certain legislative acts on 10 September.

Uznews.net