The government has increased the minimum wage of workers.

The Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security has fixed the monthly wage of workers except for tea estate workers at Rs17,300 as per Section 106 of the Labour Act, 2017. The new salary will come into effect from Friday.

The monthly basic salary has been fixed at Rs10,820 and dearness allowance at Rs6,480. The daily wage has been fixed at Rs668 per day and Rs89 per hour. Similarly, the hourly wage for part-time workers has been fixed at Rs95 per hour.

The minimum monthly wage for workers is currently Rs15,000 which includes Rs9,385 basic salary and Rs5,615 dearness allowance.

The minimum wage for tea estate workers has been fixed at Rs13,893, which includes Rs8,934 basic salary and a dearness allowance of Rs4,959.

The notice of the increment has been published in Nepal Gazette on Thursday.

The minimum wage was reviewed for the last time in the fiscal year 2021-22. Prior to that, the minimum monthly salary was Rs13,450. As per the existing provisions, the minimum wage is reviewed every two years.

Nepal’s private sector employs around 4.93 million persons, nearly 86 percent of the country's labour force, according to a study titled ‘State of Private Sector in Nepal: Contributions and Constraints’, jointly produced by the FNCCI and the International Finance Corporation (IFC).