Proposals to charge employers with specifying wages in job adverts received negatively

Based on the currently proposed project, employers releasing job advertisements and seeking to form a work contract with employees must specify information on the size of the wage for the job and the interval of this size. This proposal to amend the Labour Code was registered by Lithuanian Farmer and Greens Union Seimas group members on Tuesday.

One of the initiators of the amendment, deputy chairman of the Social Security and Labour Committee Tomas Tomilinas believes that such legislation will improve employees’ negotiation positions and will allow them to save time when choosing only the proposals, which suit them financially.

Lithuanian Employers Confederation president Danas Arlauskas thinks the opposite. In response to this proposal, he told the lrt.lt news portal that he does not understand, what the purpose of these amendments to the Labour Code are.

“I don’t understand the point of this idea. What impact will it have on the employees, companies or the state? Especially when the Employment Service announces average wages, thus certain groups of employees already know, what wages to expect. It’s just repeating itself,” D. Arlauskas said.

According to him, politicians are seeking to present appealing legislative projects before the elections, which serve no practical purpose.

Former prime minister and conservative MP Andrius Kubilius also believes such a project looks odd.

“Employers can freely negotiate with employees they are hiring for certain matters, including wages. […] If many come seeking employment, naturally, the employer will lower the wages. I doubt there is any need to restrict the natural negotiations,” A. Kubilius told lrt.lt.

Swedbank chief economist Nerijus Mačiulis thinks that this would be an extra regulatory measure for employers, however it is unlikely it would change wage growth trends in Lithuania.

According to the economist, proposed wages do not reveal all the perks an employee could receive from an employer and added that a law was passed two years ago to publically release the average wage of companies and this had a far larger influence on employees’ expectations and negotiation positions.

“It could be one of the reasons why over the past two years we saw a rapid growth in wages,” N. Mačiulis stated.