Living wage hike needed to meet basic citizen needs - MP Tretyakova

Member of Parliament from the Servant of the People faction, Head of the Parliamentary Committee on Social Policy and Protection of Veterans' Rights Halyna Tretyakova has emphasizes the need to increase the subsistence minimum in Ukraine, which is the basis for calculating pensions, social benefits, salaries in the budget sector, as well as services in the medical, education and housing and communal sectors, the political force's website reported on Monday.

"Today, the official subsistence minimum is almost four times lower than the actual one. Its size does not even provide for basic human needs - for food, medicine, clothing or housing," the head of the committee emphasized, commenting on the package of four draft laws No. 13466, 13467, 13468 and 13469 submitted to the Verkhovna Rada on creating the prerequisites for increasing the subsistence minimum.

The mistake, she said, was made back in 2016, when the subsistence minimum began to be used to calculate salaries, pensions and benefits, but it was not increased in line with rising prices. "As a result, we have a system that is unfair to people. Budget employees, pensioners, low-income people - everyone receives less than they should," Tretyakova said.

According to calculations, at least 800 billion UAH in addition is needed to pay pensions, benefits and salaries based on the real subsistence minimum.

The parliamentarian emphasizes that the Verkhovna Rada must change the situation by ending the dependence of salaries and benefits on the understated subsistence minimum.

"The subsistence minimum must become real - that is, correspond to the daily expenses of an ordinary Ukrainian family. This is not just a question of numbers. This is a question of human dignity, trust in the state and our responsibility as people's deputies. We must make decisions in the interests of the people - and it is worth starting with raising the subsistence minimum to a real level," Tretyakova said.