SALARY INCREMENTS UNDER THE LEADERSHIP OF PRESIDENT HAKAINDE HICHILEMA
By Shalala Oliver Sepiso
1. 2022: A 12% basic salary increase was awarded to all civil servants, effective 1st January, 2022.
2. 2023: A 10.5% basic salary increase was agreed upon and implemented, effective 1st January, 2023
3. 2024: Civil servants received an increment of K550 across the board, effective 1st January, 2024. This was described as a 15% increase in negotiations, though the flat amount meant the actual percentage varied by salary scale.
4. 2025: A further increase of K500 across the board was awarded, effective January 1, 2025. Allowances such as meal and repatriation allowances were also increased.
5. 2026: K700 of basic salary.
Please note that K700 increase of basic salary means a higher amount of gross salary since allowances like Housing, Hardship, Transport etc are percentages of Basic Salary.
This means most civil servants will see an actual increase of more than K1,000 on their payslips.
What people must understand is that the salary increment that was announced is for Public Workers only, the most underprivileged employees are found in the private sector and in that sector, employers stick to the minimum wage which has not been adjusted to date. Most employers in the Private sector are used to disadvantage their employees and even if they hear that the public service workers have had their increment, they won’t move from the ancient minimum wage until that is adjusted by statutory instrument. When you talk to them now, they will tell you that they are within the law. So employee in the private sector await the labor minister to see the way forward, maybe she has forgotten about the private sectors existence.