Safwat al-Nahhas, head of the Central Agency for Organization and Administration, warned that a minimum wage of LE1200 will cause the prices of Egyptian goods and services to ratchet up, fueling inflation.
He added that the Supreme Administrative Court has not set a specific minimum wage.
The court on Tuesday upheld a previous ruling requiring the government to set a minimum wage for state employees.
Al-Nahhas said a disagreement between the Egyptian Federation of Trade Unions (EFTU) and representatives of industrial unions and commerce chambers at the Egyptian National Council for Wages is the main impediment to setting a minimum wage.
In statements to Al-Masry Al-Youm, al-Nahhas said the EFTU is calling for a minimum wage between LE1200 and LE1500, while producers say LE300 is sufficient. "The government has no problem with either option," he added.
The average minimum wage for an entry-level state employee at a local authority is LE490 and LE500 for those at ministries, centralized state authorities and universities, according to al-Nahhas.
Regarding the factors determining the minimum wage, al-Nahhas said the wage must be higher than the national poverty line–which is somewhere between LE164 and LE180–and lower than half the average income–estimated between LE900 and LE1000. As such, the minimum wage should be between LE450 and LE500, according to al-Nahhas.
Translated from the Arabic Edition.
