The Rada is preparing a new formula for calculating the minimum wage

The Verkhovna Rada has started working on updating the approach to determining the minimum wage. This was stated by the head of the parliamentary committee on social policy and protection of veterans' rights Halyna Tretyakova .

"The discussion on how the minimum wage should be set has now resumed. In fact, we are working on a new version of the Law "On Remuneration of Labor" in the Committee, which still has an outdated Soviet procedure," said the MP at the forum "Dialogue between Government and Business: New Opportunities for MSME Development", organized by the Ukrainian Business Council with the support of UNDP in Ukraine.

At present, neither trade unions nor employers influence the process of modernizing the minimum wage, emphasized Tretyakova. And in the budget for 2026, the government proposes to re-establish the minimum wage at a lowered amount in violation of the law on labor remuneration.

"We have a legal provision that states that the minimum wage cannot be lower than the subsistence level with appropriate taxes. The subsistence minimum is currently UAH 9,700 including taxes. That is, the minimum wage before taxes should be UAH 9,700 – about UAH 10,000," explained the head of the committee .

At the same time, the level of the minimum wage affects economic indicators quite globally, she added.

"Only by raising the minimum wage, the economy can get an additional UAH 30-40 billion if it is set in real terms," Tretyakova said .

The MPs are discussing whether it is necessary to set only a monthly salary or whether we can set it for the employer even in hourly equivalent "and whether they should be equal." That is, if a salary of, for example, UAH 8,000 is declared, then, as Tretyakova explained, the hourly wage should be equal to UAH 32 .

"Of course, today it is hardly possible to find a person with a specialty for 32 hryvnias, even if you invite them to work for an hour, you still have to pay for transportation costs. For example, in Lviv, transportation costs 25 UAH for a bus ticket, while in Kyiv it is 8 UAH for the subway and 15 UAH for a minibus. Accordingly, if you use the subway plus a minibus, you will spend 46 UAH just to get to and from work," the MP said .

The draft of the new Labor Code prepared by the Ministry of Economy will contain a provision according to which an employer and an employee can create an employment contract as a combination of different forms of labor relations, added Tretyakova.

"That is, you can agree with a person that they work four hours full-time, two hours remotely or overtime, and these norms can also be written out," added the head of the parliamentary committee .

• on October 6, amendments were submitted to the state budget for 2026, which will provide teachers with at least three minimum salaries from September 1, 2026
• According to a survey by the Accounting Chamber, almost 80% of civil servants believe that they are paid too little .
• The average salary in Ukraine in September 2025 increased by 2.7% compared to August and amounted to UAH 26,623 .