Malawi to review minimum wages for workers: Learns from shop owners
Malawi’s Minister of Labour Eunice Makangala says government would soon increase the current minimum wage pegged at r K8 242 (about $20) per month per month for workers.
Speaking on Malawi’s state television on Friday evening during the Malawi Lero (Malawi Today) program, Makangala said she is impressed with what the shop owners have done by increasing the monthly salaries for their lowest paid members of staff from K600 to MK 18,600.
The shop workers in the capital Lilongwe recently staged a stay way to push their employers to hike their monthly salaries and improved working condition.
“I would wish that as the government we need to take a leaf from what the shop owners have done and see if the K8, 000 tarry with the current economic situation. We need to move away from the current daily wage of K317 (about $0.80) per day so that workers should start enjoying their lives,” She said.
Makangala also said the unemployment problems in Malawi will soon be history as some more countries are coming forward looking for laborers from Malawi.
She said besides job offers from South Korea and Kuwait, other countries like, Bahrain, and United Arab Emirates have offered Malawi to send them people who would work in various fields.
“The message that I would like to send across to Malawians is that we have been recruiting those with MSCE (Malawi Schools Certificate of Education) but the new job offers require those with higher education. For example some are looking for trained teachers while others are looking for people with degrees up to master’s level to take jobs suiting their levels of education.”
Makangala also said another interesting thing is that there are also some job offers which do not need any academic qualification provided one is skilled in any type of job like builder’s assistant (woperekera matope).
“The most interesting thing is that they will be getting more money which they will be sending home to assist their families. That’s what we want as government. We need people to go outside the country and get employed unlike just loafing here in Malawi,” she said.
