Angola: New Minimum Wage and Remote Work Measures
Angola’s government has implemented an increase to its national minimum wage and introduced remote work regulations.
In 2022, the government of Angola introduced new legislation to support many of its 16.2 million workers. The measures are intended to manage the rising cost of living in the country, and to support workers during the country’s recovery from Covid-19 restrictions.
National Minimum Wage Increase
In January 2022, Angola’s Council of Ministers approved a proposal to increase the country’s national minimum wage. Motivated by a desire to enhance the purchasing power of Angolan families still struggling to recover from Covid-19 restrictions, the proposal was agreed with input from the government and from Angolan trade unions. Authorised under Presidential Decree no. 54/22, the increase came into effect on 17th February, 2022, and represented a pay rise of around 50%.
| Industrial sector |
Minimum Wage |
|---|---|
| Commerce and extractive sectors |
48,271.73 Akz |
| Transport, services and manufacturing sectors |
40,226,44 Akz |
| Agricultural sectors (and economic activities not included in the previous categories) |
32,181.15 Akz |
Angolan Finance Minister Vera Daves stressed that the wage increase would be “sustainable over time”, but had been designed to offer the most benefit to “the people who earn less and who are the ones who suffer the most from the impact of inflation and… in acquiring what is most basic in satisfying their needs.”
Remote Work Regulation
Following restrictions introduced to cope with the Covid-19 pandemic, many Angolan employers were forced to introduce work from home schemes to continue operations. However, during the pandemic, Angola had no legislation to manage work from home rules, leaving many employees to take their own approaches.
On 17th February 2022, Presidential Decree 52/22 introduced the Remote Working Legal Framework. The decree introduced legal definitions for different types of remote work and rules for how arrangements should be made between employers and employees.
Under the decree, remote work is classified as:
- Working from home: An employee working from their home.
- Working from a satellite office: An employee working off-site from their employer’s main premises, or outside their own home.
- Working in a community work centre: An employee working in a space shared by a number of organisations, contracted employees, or self-employed workers.
- Nomadic working: An employee working from a non-fixed location.
Any adoption of remote work should be dependent on an agreement between employer and employee. The agreement may be proposed by either party and should be formalised in writing - with details including the employee’s duties, their remuneration, and their working hours.
The decree also sets out rules for employees that are entitled to remote work. These include:
- Pregnant employees
- Employees that care (jointly or individual) for children under 5
- Employees that care for disabled dependents
- Employees that cannot work at an employer’s premises for health reasons
- A Constitutional State of Necessity that mandates remote work
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