He was speaking after his Cabinet on Tuesday endorsed a plan to increase the country’s minimum wage and the minimum hourly rate next year.
Poland's minimum wage would rise to PLN 2,600 (EUR 600, USD 660) a month, while the minimum hourly rate would go up to PLN 17 as of January, state news agency PAP reported.
Morawiecki told a news conference that the proposed increases would help “increase the efficiency and innovativeness of Polish enterprises,” while also improving “the quality of work and employee satisfaction.”
Poland’s conservative leader Jarosław Kaczyński announced at the end of last week that the Polish minimum monthly wage would grow to PLN 3,000 at the end of 2020 and then rise further to PLN 4,000 three years later.
The minimum wage in Poland rose to PLN 2,250 (EUR 525, USD 600) at the start of this year, from PLN 2,100 in 2018.
Meanwhile, the minimum hourly rate in Poland is currently set at PLN 14.70 (EUR 3.40, USD 3.80), up from PLN 13.70 a year earlier.
The average gross Polish monthly wage in July was PLN 5,182.43 (EUR 1,187, USD 1,314), the country’s Central Statistical Office reported last month.
The planned series of minimum wage hikes is part of a package of spending pledges by Poland’s ruling conservatives ahead of next month’s elections.
Poles will vote in parliamentary elections on October 13.
After four years in power, the governing conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party is bidding for a second term following a landslide win in 2015.
(gs)
Source: PAP