The International Labour Organization (ILO) has expressed optimism about Ethiopia'sefforts to establish a thriving national minimum wage system.
The ILO, however underlined the importance of inclusive negotiations among the government, employers, and workers.
In an exclusive interview with The Ethiopian Herald, ILO Country Director for Ethiopia, Djibouti, Somalia, Sudan and South Sudan and Special Representative to the African Union and the Economic Commission for Africa,KhumbulaNdaba stressed the importance of structured dialogue to achieve a lasting solution as the government finalizes preparations for a civil servants salary increase.
"The salary increment should be assisted with regular engagement between the government, employers, and workers," he said. He advocated for a minimum wage structure that applies to civil servants and laborers in sectors like manufacturing and agriculture.
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"One of the ways to do it is to negotiate at a certain level. So, in the manufacturing sector and the agricultural sector, for example, there could be a minimum wage structure for those sectors," he explained.
According to him, progress must be incremental. "To get to that point (a minimum wage), the government has to deal with incremental progresses because it will be too much to take it at one time. In determining a national minimum wage, we must also look at the economy of Ethiopia. Because there is no point in determining a minimum wage the government may not be able to afford," he said.
Khumbula added that the minimum wage should be deliberated at the wage board level which includes representatives from the Ministry of Labor and Skills the government employers and workers.
The ILO is assisting by conducting research to ensure evidence based decisions. "From the ILO side, we are assisting them and researching to make them informed by research. Of course, they have a sense of what is happening elsewhere in the world, including major labor challenges," Khumbula stressed.
He cautioned that a minimum wage should not be set at a level that harms the economy but rather to protect the most vulnerable. "With that, we can actually determine a better wage based on the capacity of the sector," he noted.
The Director also welcomed Ethiopia's e migration system noting it as a step toward collecting accurate data for development decisions. "It is the beginning to catch more information, statistics, and data," he said.
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Meanwhile Confederation of Ethiopian Trade Unions (CETU) President Kassahun Follo urged private employers to follow the government's lead commending the salary adjustment as a response to inflation. He called for strict oversight to ensure real impact and faster action to establish a national minimum wage using the revised civil service pay as a benchmark.
