This is apropos a Business Recorder op-ed ‘Minimum wage: a suggestion’ carried by the newspaper on Saturday. The writer, Zia Ul Islam Zuberi, has raised an issue of very high import as the title of his write-up or the lowest wage permitted by law has suggested.

The CEO Unilever’s remark that “I’m going to say something controversial, but I genuinely believe that Pakistan needs to move away from this minimum wage of Rs 25,000 to a fair living wage, which is Rs 56,000 for Karachi, Islamabad, Lahore and Rs 49,000 for other cities” that the writer has quoted in the beginning of his write-up, in my view, presents a sardonic comment on the ordeal of the people who have to make do with the lowest wage or wages across the provinces.

The writer is spot on or completely accurate throughout his article and his remark that “I doubt that all employers are paying minimum wage to all their employees, and let us assume that everyone is following the minimum wages guidelines, but the purchasing power of the rupee is fast depleting” does invite the attention of all the provincial governments.

In other words, he’s making a strong case for a reasonable increase in the amount of minimum wage or wages that the governments have stipulated in their respective domains. I fully endorse his argument in view of the fact that biting inflation and the rupee slide have rendered minimum wages across provinces worthless and meaningless.

Nasir Mirza (Karachi)

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022