Egypt's Minister of Labor Mohamed Gobran has rejected calls to raise the private-sector minimum wage to 9,000 Egyptian pounds, denouncing the proposal as “random and irresponsible.”
Gobran made the remarks Monday night during a phone interview on the talk show Hadith Al-Qahira, hosted by Karima Awad. His comments came in response to demands by Shaaban Khalifa, head of the General Union of Private Sector Workers, for an emergency meeting of the National Wages Council to address surging inflation after last week’s fuel price hikes.
Last week, the Ministry of Petroleum raised fuel prices by 10% to 13% for gasoline and diesel, and by around 43% for natural gas used in vehicles—moves that triggered ripple effects across prices of goods and services.
While Gobran confirmed that minimum wage studies are ongoing, he stressed that the process must go through proper institutional channels. “You don't just wake up and decide to raise the wage floor,” he said. “There's the Worker's Union, the Federation of Chambers, and six ministries represented on the council. This isn't done haphazardly.”
He also questioned the legitimacy of the union led by Khalifa, calling it unlicensed and absent from the Ministry of Labor’s official registry. “Legal action will be taken against those promoting this entity,” he warned, denouncing it as “an act of impersonation.”
Al Manassa contacted Khalifa for comment. He declined to elaborate but said the union would issue an official response at a later time.
Hours after Gobran's appearance, the Labor Ministry released a statement claiming his remarks had been misrepresented on social media. The ministry said his comments on the unregistered union had been wrongly conflated with the minimum wage demand, urging the public to verify information and avoid spreading “confusion and misinformation.”
The National Wages Council last raised the private-sector minimum wage to 7,000 pounds in February of this year, with implementation beginning March 1.
At the time, the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights criticized the increase as still falling below the poverty line, offering a thorough analysis of alternative policies.
Since the sectoral wage increase, Egypt has raised fuel prices twice, first in April, and again last week, further straining household budgets.
