The anticipated release of the National Wage Rate is expected by January 2024.
On 22 November 2023, Ministry of Finance (MoF) announced that the revised wage rate for the national workforce. According to the ministry’s notification issued states that the revision will be effective from 1 October 2023.
With the revision, workers will now be paid between Nu 400 to Nu 600 per day depending on different skill categories. This marks a significant increase from the previous range of Nu 215 to Nu 324 per day.
Despite the announcement, some Public Works Department (PWD) workers have reported not receiving the revised pay, with payments arriving on the 12th of the month, which is considered late.
An official from the Department of Surface Transport (DOST) stated, “The wage revision is still in progress. Meetings have taken place with regional offices to address the old labor norms and align them with the current scenario. The standard norm is yet to be finalized, with regional workers instructed to expedite the process.”
“Once the document is submitted, a subsequent round of meetings will be held to finalize labor norms, and an approximate budget will be presented to the Policy and planning Committee meeting (PPCM) for endorsement. Regarding the payment date, we usually pay by the first week,” the official further added
According to the Acting Finance Secretary, “There’re certain norms we need to take into consideration before releasing the new wage rate. The process will take time but assuring that payments will be made once it is sort out.”
The revised wage rate proposal is expected to be submitted by January 2024, and it will not be based on outdated labour norms like Bhutan Schedule Rate (BSR).
The number of PWD workers changes according to the needs, however, there’s still shortage of labour in our country.
As of now, there are 1,335 workers in October and 1,280 workers in November awaiting the revised payments.