The government has come a step closer to implementing a national floor wage framework as mandated by labour codes to prevent wages from falling below a subsistence level across the country, with Director General, Labour Bureau, being empowered to do the computation job.

The valuation of essential commodities (such as food or housing) supplied at concessional rates to establishments will be included in the wage calculation. The DG, Labour Bureau, who works under the Labour and Employment Ministry, will now have an added responsibility apart from his existing assignments to act as the supreme administrative and technical authority for collecting, compiling, and analyzing labour statistics in the country.

With growing inflation due to West Asia crisis, workers are finding difficult to make a living. Haryana and Uttar Pradesh (UP) have recently revised their respective minimum wages effective from April 1. While UP revised retrospectively minimum wages, which went up to a minimum of 9.21 per cent to a maximum of 21 per cent, across three different categories, Noida-Gaziabad, for districts with municipal corporations and remaining districts.

Earlier on May 9, the government fully operationalized the four labour codes by publishing rules through 17 gazette notifications, ensuring minimum wage and universal social security for all workers.