As of 1 January 2025, the national minimum monthly wage will rise from 700 euros to 740 euros.
This is laid down in the Cabinet of Ministers' Regulation "Amendment to the Cabinet of Ministers' Regulation No. 656 "Regulation on the Amount of the Minimum Monthly Wage during Normal Working Hours and Calculation of the Minimum Hourly Pay Rate"" of 24 November 2015, adopted at the government sitting on Tuesday 29 October.
"Next year, the minimum monthly wage will be increased by 40 euros. We are starting to move towards a new system, where the minimum wage will be determined as a percentage of the average pay in the country. This will certainly improve the financial situation and standard of living of the lower-paid employees," emphasizes Uldis Augulis, Minister for Welfare.
The adopted regulations apply to employers and employees. According to the data of the Central Statistical Bureau on the number of employees whose income was up to and equal to the minimum wage, in 2023, out of 131 584 employees in the private sector, there were 99 270 employees, or 18.6% of those employed in the private sector, while, there were 29 012 employees in the public sector, or 12.6% of those employed in the public sector.
In the period from 2020 to 2023, the share of minimum wage earners and lower wage earners in the public sector slightly increased from 10.4% in 2020 to 12.6% in 2023, while in the private sector the share of minimum wage earners has decreased from 21.2% to 18.6%.
In 2023, there were 822 489 people employed in Latvia.