Critérios de determinação do salário mínimo em Moçambique: críticas e sugestões

Abstract

The problem of the minimum wage is an old and complicated issue, but always current because of its political-social and economic implications. It is a subject that involves different sensibilities and interests, namely, those of a social, economic and political nature. It is in this context that this work was carried out, which aims, firstly, to make a descriptive and critical analysis of the minimum wage determination in Mozambique. And, secondly, to formulate a suggestion in terms of alternative criteria for fixing and adjusting the minimum wage in Mozambique. The work results from the compilation of literary works and reports of empirical studies on the mechanism and criteria for fixing and adjusting the minimum wage in Mozambique and other countries in the world, namely Portugal, Mexico, Mauritius, Brazil, Japan, and Costa Rica, as well as from the collection of information based on interviews with the parties involved in this issue. The choice of the subject minimum wage results from the importance that the subject assumes in social welfare, the guarantee of minimum income and the reduction of social inequalities, to the extent that the objective of the minimum wage policy is to provide workers with resources that ensure them the minimum living conditions. Government intervention in the labor market, through the minimum wage policy, aims to guarantee the minimum welfare of a society. In fact, the pursuit of this goal is possible through the consecration of rights that provide man with the minimum necessary living conditions, in terms of food, housing, clothing, health, and other social services. The paper discusses essentially three aspects: systems, fixing criteria, and adjustment criteria. In a first approach, the most used criteria in the world according to the ILO are presented, and later, the criteria used in Mozambique. (TRADUÇÃO NOSSA)