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PHILIPSBURG--The minimum wage will be indexed from NAf. 8.56 per hour to NAf. 8.75 per hour as of January 1, 2015.
A press release issued by Labour Minister Cornelius de Weever's Cabinet stated that consultation had been held with the Social Economic Council SER, which advised in December 2012 that with De Weever's vision coupled with the minimum hourly wage policy it had been agreed to index the minimum wage annually.
The Bureau of Statistics also had indicated that the price indices for household consumption "show that the figure for the month of the preceding year changed, thus a new minimum hourly wage."
Employers were requested to take note of the indexation and have it properly adjusted on their employees' pay-slips. The minimum wage is just a baseline and should not be used for every worker, the release said.
De Weever said he was "extremely happy" to have the minimum wage indexed. The release said this was the third consecutive year De Weever had indexed the minimum wage "for workers to keep up with the rising cost of living."
The legal basis for the indexation is in article 13, paragraph 1 of the National Ordinance Minimum Wages. "I am willing to index the minimum wage as long as the economic situation allows it," De Weever said in the release.
