The Regulation of the Council of Ministers of 12 September 2024 specifies the new minimum wage and the minimum hourly rate in 2025. From 1 January 2025, the new minimum wage will be PLN 4,666 gross, and the lowest hourly rate will be PLN 30.50 gross.
As stated in the justification for the regulation, the following factors influenced the above amounts:
- increasing the final amount of the minimum wage set for 2024 by the total consumer price index forecasted in the draft budget act for 2025 (105%),
- application of the verification factor (1.0334) due to the differences between the actual (111.4%) and the forecasted (107.8%) price increase in 2023.
Minimum wage – how much will entrepreneurs pay?
As indicated by Małgorzata Samborska, a tax advisor from Grant Thornton, the gross minimum wage of PLN 4,666 means a net rate (net) of PLN 3,510.77, a health insurance contribution of PLN 362.37, and total cost to employer – 5621.59 PLN.
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This means that the cost of employing an employee will increase by over PLN 440 compared to the current rate. On the other hand, the employee will receive PLN 249.39 more net.
The Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA) acknowledged that raising the minimum wage could increase labor costs to such an extent that some employers may decide to reduce employment, which may primarily affect people with low qualifications. On the other hand, high labor costs can be an incentive for entrepreneurs to invest in automation and innovative solutions, which will contribute to increased productivity.
“Regarding the functioning of enterprises and their competitiveness, increasing the minimum wage may affect the competitiveness of companies, including international competitiveness, in labour-intensive industries employing low-paid workers. In this case, increasing the minimum wage may affect the increase in costs and decrease in the profitability of enterprises,” we read in the OSR.
Minimum wage – employers criticize the law
According to prof. Jacek Męcina, advisor to the Lewiatna board, the draft act on the minimum wage is weak legislatively. It does not achieve the goals included in the EU directive, but also contributes to deepening the problems of companies and a decrease in employment.
– Instead of complicated mechanisms, let us introduce simple rules that will guarantee verification of the planned inflation rate and ensure that the minimum wage is set at half the average wage.and let us leave other decisions in the hands of social partners and collective agreements, as provided for in the implemented directive – postulates Prof. Jacek Męcina, chairman of the Labour Law Team at the Social Dialogue Council, advisor to the board of the Lewiatan Confederation and researcher from the University of Warsaw.
Trade unions support the increase
Following today’s publication of the regulation, the All-Poland Alliance of Trade Unions issued a statement claiming that the government had accepted the demands of the OPZZ and had decided to increase the minimum wage, taking into account the current inflation forecast.
“The key argument of OPZZ was linking the minimum wage to the new inflation forecast (5.0%), which directly affects the cost of living. On Monday, OPZZ submitted a formal request to Prime Minister Donald Tusk regarding this matter, which – as you can see – was met with a positive response.” – we read in the OPZZ press release.
