Minimum wage increase deferred due to COVID crisis — Labour Ministry

AMMAN — The Tripartite Labour Committee has decided to postpone the planned minimum wage increase for 2022 until next year, according to Adnan Dahamsheh, director of Labour Relations at the Ministry of Labour and member of said committee.

The minimum wage is currently set at JD260 for Jordanian workers. As per a committee decision in February 2020, it is to witness a yearly increase in proportion with the country’s inflation rate for the previous year, starting from 2022.

According to the Department of Statistics (DoS), the Consumer Price Index (CPI), an inflation measure, reached 102.46 in 2021. This marked a 1.35 per cent increase compared with the Kingdom’s CPI of 101.1 in 2020.

However, Dahamsheh noted that the current economic situation lead the committee to reconsider its decision. 

“Given the adverse impacts the pandemic has had on many sectors, the committee has unanimously decided to postpone the increase until 2023,” he told The Jordan Times. 

Dahamsheh added that the decision previously taken by the committee also stipulates that the minimum wage for expatriate workers must be JD260 by 2023. 

“As of 2022, the minimum wage for non-Jordanian workers, which was JD230, will be JD245 and next year it will be increased again to reach JD260,” he said.

The number of sectors excluded from receiving minimum wage is on the rise, including textiles and readymade clothes, loading and unloading service workers and domestic workers, according to Dahamsheh. 

“In the upcoming days, the decision will be circulated to business owners, chambers of industry and commerce, labour unions and employers’ associations,” he said.

Dahamsheh added that the decision will also be announced on the ministry’s website immediately following its publication in the upcoming issue of the Official Gazette.