Cyprus' minimum wage set at 940 euros per month

The Minister of Labour and Social Insurance, Kyriakos Kousios, announced the establishment of the National Minimum Wage after the meeting of the Council of Ministers, calling it a historic day for the welfare state.

Marathon talks and meetings between trade unions, employers' organisations and the ministry resulted in an agreement after 6 months, with the Labour Minister making it clear that, although there was no unanimous agreement on the issue, the concerns of the two sides were reconciled. He began by stating that, "as was the President's statements we have today the establishment of the National Minimum Wage. As you know, I have had a series of consultations with the social partners, I and my colleagues have assessed the positions of the social partners, both the trade union movement and the employers' side, and as I have repeatedly stated, it was expected that in this type of dialogue there would not be a unanimous outcome."

The National Minimum Wage is set at EUR 940, however, for the first six months of employment, it will be 885 euros. The implementation of the National Minimum Wage starts on 1 January 2023, with a transition period to allow the economy and employers to cope with this change, he said.

The exemptions

The introduction of the minimum wage will naturally have some exceptions. These mainly include professions related to shipping, domestic workers and also farming and livestock.

In particular, the Minister of Labour, Mr Kousios, stated that "Those who receive more favourable treatment through a customary contract or other decree are also excluded from the decree. That is, if an employer has better benefits than those provided for in the decree in no way are these benefits affected. Persons receiving training for a degree or professional qualification are also excluded. Where an employer provides food or accommodation, it will be possible by an agreement between the parties to deduct from the cash amount 15% for food and 10% for accommodation. The employer will be able with 45 days' notice to waive this part of the agreement.  At least 40 thousand of our fellow citizens are benefiting from this legislation with an increase of up to 30% of the salary they were receiving until now.

"I must say that there were significant differences between the employer side and the unions. Nevertheless, through discussions, we were able to reach a point of agreement. I thank them for their cooperation and the way they conducted the consultation." he said in conclusion.