What Does minimum salary Mean
The Latin word salarĭum came to our language as salary . The concept is used to name the remuneration that an individual receives periodically for performing a certain job. The word salary derives from salt: in ancient times, salt was very valuable and was used as a means of payment.
Minimum , on the other hand, is a very small quantity or magnitude, such that there is no other lesser of its kind .
With these definitions clear, we can understand the notion of minimum wage . This is the name that receives the lowest salary that the legislation stipulates that can be paid for a certain period of work (month, day, week or hour). In this way, no employer can offer a worker a salary that is below the minimum wage, since it would be violating the law .
The origins of the minimum wage date back to the 19th century in countries like New Zealand and Australia . The purpose of this legal provision is to prevent the contractor from abusing his employee and paying him very low amounts.
It was specifically in Victoria, a state of Australia, where the regulation of this concept was carried out for the first time, more precisely in the Employers and Employees Act of 1890 (whose original name is Employers and Employees Act ). It arose as a result of various protests by workers to demand that a minimum wage be legally established.
Since that time, many similar movements , led by unions, workers and other similar groups have been actively involved in the legalization of the minimum wage in almost all regions of the world, although the results have not been the same for all. In an ideal case, thanks to the determination of this amount, any employee knows that he will be able to buy a house, feed himself adequately, keep his house in good condition and take care of all the individuals in his charge in the same way.
For married workers with children, the minimum wage should guarantee that everyone in their family nucleus will have access to a dignified life , a house in good condition to cope with inclement weather, a healthy and complete diet in terms of nutrients refers to education; This last point is one of the most important, since it involves training that includes all levels, including university, taking into account the necessary expenses for the acquisition of supplies and textbooks, uniforms and travel.
The standard of living of workers increases when a minimum wage is implemented accompanied by a maximum of hours for the working day and for the total work within a week. In many countries, these values are around 8 and 40 hours, respectively. Contracts outside the law are very common and offer generally lower conditions , although they affect working hours more frequently than salary (since employers do not pay the amount stipulated by law for each employee, they can give part of that money to Workers).
Suppose that, in country X , the minimum wage is set at 10 currency units for each hour worked . This means that no worker will be able to receive less than that amount of money for each of the hours that they work. If a person charges less than this amount, the employment relationship they have with their employer will be outside the legal margins.
Typically, the amount of the minimum wage is updated periodically according to changes in macroeconomic variables . If there is inflation , for example, the minimum wage must increase so that the worker does not lose his purchasing power.