LAOS
Investvine-May 2
All businesses and factories in Laos are required to increase the minimum wage from 900,000 kip (some $108) to 1.1 million kip ($133) a month, effective May 1, 2018.
The Lao government has approved the new monthly minimum wage, an increase of eleven per cent, according to an announcement of the Prime Minister’s Office, the Lao News Agency noted, according to Xinhua.
Labor and Social Welfare Minister Sompheng Xaysompheng justified the raise of the minimum wage by claiming the fact that the country has seen an increase in economic growth and, consequently, higher cost of living over the past couple of years.
“The minimum wage adjustment made this year is the eighth of its kind since 1991 when the minimum wage was just 2,600 kip,” he said.
The monthly minimum wage was raised to 36,400 kip in 1997, 93,600 kip in 2000, 290,000 kip in 2005, and 348,000 kip in 2009. It was raised again to 620,000 kip in 2011 and 900,000 kip in 2015 to adjust to high inflation in Laos in that period.
In Laos, the minimum wage is the lowest remuneration that employers can legally pay unskilled workers. It does not include social welfare benefits and other add-ons paid by employers.
