Ghana needs a regional base minimum wage – Prof Bokpin

Professor Godfred Alufar Bokpin, Chairperson, University of Ghana's College and Research Board, has advocated for a regional base minimum wage instead of a national minimum wage.He said the 16 regions of Ghana have varying inflation rates and cost of living thus a national minimum wage not considering these factors was unfavourable to employers and employees alike.The Professor of Economics made the recommendation during the Second Day of the International Research Conference of the College of Humanities of the University of Ghana.'Differences exist in terms of cost of living across the sixteen regions, from that perspective if you are talking about a national minimum wage that is applicable to every region then chances are that we are not capturing differences across regions. ''In terms of business input cost, enterprises in these regions may not have the same prices across all the regions. Therefore, it may be necessary to contextualise the minimum wage and look at minimum wage that is appropriate per region, 'he said.The International Labour Organisation (ILO) defined minimum wage as the amount of remuneration that an employer is required to pay employees.The minimum is paid for the work performed during a given period which cannot be reduced by collective agreement or an individual contract.The daily minimum wage has been set from GHS 14.88 to GHS 18.15 in January 2024.Prof Bokpin said the variations in inflation rates from the respective regions must engender an urgent review of the enforcement and implementation of the daily minimum wage.'In fact, when you consider food inflation, you will observe the differences. Food inflation in one region could be higher than food inflation in another region. So it means if an employee is taking a minimum in Upper West or Northen region where the inflation rate is relatively lower and another employee is taking the same minimum wage in Cape Coast or Accra where the rate is high.'It means the person living in the regions where the inflation rate is l ow will have more purchasing power than person living in the region where the inflation rate is high. In this regard, we are advocating for a minimum wage that is context specific base on the regional differences in inflation, ' he said.Source: Ghana News Agency