A living wage is a minimum income for an employee to meet their basic needs, aimed at meeting the cost of living, which has been a burden in Malawi. As a resolve, employees have been demanding a living wage, but the Ministry of Labour, Skills and Innovation has warned that such demands are a call for retrenchment.

Commissioner of labour Hlale Nyangulu told The Nation newspaper that if government makes an upward review of theminimum wage, the employers may be unable to sustain that wage, therefore to keep up with the raised wage, retrenchment is the resolve.

On the other hand, the Malawi Congress of Trade Unions (MCTU) announced in May that it will engage Government in the implementation of sectoral minimum wage, which will boost income for individuals under informal employment. MCTU secretary general Denis Kalekeni saidthat the current minimum wage (K25000) is not enough to cater for one’s need, considering the new prices that are on the market.

 A Basic Needs basket (BNB) study by Centre for Social Concern (CfSC) has shown that the cost of living has gone up by 3%. The report follows a prior report by the same firm, noting that in January 2019, the cost of living increased to K194 483 in January from K190 543, contrary to various predictions of a drop in the cost of goods and services in the short to medium-term largely due to the improvements registered in the economy and the projected increase in crop yield.