Minimum wage, subsistence level, IDP payments: what changes to expect in 2025?
Minimum Wage and Living Wage for 2025
According to the law № 4059-IX "On the State Budget of Ukraine for 2025", which was adopted by the Verkhovna Rada on November 19, 2024, the living wage in Ukraine will remain at the same level as in 2024. This means that the minimum wage will also remain unchanged next year, amounting to 8,000 UAH, with an hourly rate of 48 UAH.
The living wage for 2025 for one person is as follows:
- for the main categories of the population — 2,920 UAH;
- for children under 6 years old — 2,563 UAH;
- for children aged 6 to 18 years — 3,196 UAH;
- for working-age individuals (general indicator) — 3,028 UAH;
- the living wage for 2025 for non-working individuals — 2,361 UAH;
- for individuals who have lost their ability to work (for calculating allowances in areas of radioactive contamination) — 1,600 UAH.
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Freezing Minimum Social Standards: What It Means for Ukrainians
The freezing of minimum social standards for 2025-2027 is a rather strict policy, acknowledged even by the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Finance, Taxation, and Customs Policy, Daniil Hetmantsev. "The biggest concern is regarding the freezing of minimum social standards for 2025-2027... I understand the logic of the Ministry of Finance, but I believe this step is an excessively harsh measure for fiscal consolidation, especially in the context of projected inflation acceleration. In such conditions, the task of bringing back migrants from abroad seems quite unrealistic," commented Hetmantsev.
The impact of the "freeze" will primarily be felt by pensioners and citizens on the minimum wage, but they are not the only ones affected.
The consequences of the "freeze" will first and foremost impact pensioners and individuals earning the minimum wage, but not only them. The minimum wage plays a crucial role in shaping many social standards, affecting areas such as penalty sanctions (the amount of many fines in Ukraine depends on the minimum wage) or tax issues. Freezing may lead to reduced income for citizens and, consequently, lower revenues for the state budget, which will affect economic stability.
Additionally, freezing the minimum wage may impact pensions, as it can be used as the income of the insured person for calculating pension amounts.
Although the Ukrainian government justified the freezing of the minimum wage as necessary for economic stabilization during the crisis, experts argue that freezing the minimum wage in the country contradicts the principles of social justice and the protection of labor rights enshrined in the Constitution.
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Payments to IDPs in 2025: Who Will Guaranteedly Continue to Receive Assistance
According to Irina Vereshchuk, Deputy Head of the President's Office, nearly 166 billion UAH has been spent on direct support for internally displaced persons (IDPs) over the nearly three years of Russia's invasion. Payments to displaced persons will continue in 2025. However, the state budget for 2025 allocates about 48.6 billion UAH for payments to IDPs, which is less than in previous years.
As Maxim Tkachenko, a member of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Human Rights, states, each year, displaced persons receive less from the state. At the beginning of the full-scale war in 2022, payments amounted to about 73 billion UAH, dropping to 57 billion UAH in 2023: "As we see, unfortunately, the amount decreases each year."
The freezing may lead to reduced income for citizens and, consequently, lower revenues for the state budget, which will affect economic stability.
In 2025, internally displaced persons who are 60 years old and do not receive a pension are entitled to payments. Therefore, they will continue to receive assistance as IDPs, according to p.13-4 of the Procedure for Providing Assistance for IDPs.
The payment amounts for IDPs in Ukraine are: 3,000 UAH for individuals with disabilities and minor children, and 2,000 UAH for all others. It is likely that this payment amount will remain the same in 2025.
It is important to note that the assistance payment is assigned for the second six-month period based on the application for assistance.
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To continue receiving assistance, it is necessary to:
- meet the property criteria set forth in p.p.7-7-1 of the Procedure: not to have deposits, residential property in areas not included in the List of Combat Operations or Temporary Occupation, expensive purchases, etc.;
- the average monthly total income per recipient in such a family over the last 3 months, considering income at the time of continuing assistance, must not exceed 9,444 UAH.
Additionally, to continue receiving payments, IDPs do not need to specify the period of displacement or be additionally employed, registered with the Employment Center, and so on.
Other individuals who have lost their ability to work but do not qualify for pension payments or receive state social assistance, as well as individuals with disabilities of group III, are also entitled to continue receiving payments on similar grounds.