Editorial
In a display of striking political tone-deafness, the federal government has proposed a salary and allowance increase for cabinet members and parliamentarians in the latest budget, citing nine years of “frozen” pay. Framed as overdue relief for lawmakers facing supposed economic “hardships,” the move stands in stark contrast to the lived realities of the average Pakistani worker.
The Finance Minister justified the raise by noting the lack of revisions since 2016. Yet, public expenditure tells a different story. The combined employment-related budget for the National Assembly and Senate has jumped from Rs3 billion in FY17 to a staggering Rs15 billion in FY26 — a fivefold increase. Most of this, beyond support staff, directly benefits the legislators themselves.
Compare this to the construction sector, where workers’ wages, tracked weekly by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, have merely doubled in the same period. The federal minimum wage? Still pegged at Rs37,000, with no upward revision proposed. In a country where inflation bites deep and inequality is widening, the message is clear: budgetary generosity is reserved for the powerful, not the precarious.
Moreover, the federal minimum wage, while technically non-binding, acts as a signal for provinces. Leaving it stagnant discourages provincial revisions and undermines the broader wage floor. Enforcement is another story altogether — industry-wide violations persist, as many employers continue to ignore wage laws with impunity.
At its core, this decision reflects Pakistan’s skewed political economy, where economic “austerity” is selectively applied. Workers are told wage increases are too costly for competitiveness, but when it comes to political elites, fiscal restraint conveniently vanishes.
Austerity, it seems, is a burden only for the powerless — while those in power continue to insulate themselves from the very hardships they claim to represent.
