Pakistan statutory reference
Minimum wage
The figure that sets the floor on pay — and, because EOBI and social security are both computed on it, the figure that sets two of your contributions too.
The minimum wage does more work in Pakistani payroll than its name suggests. It sets the floor on pay, which is the obvious part. It is also the figure that EOBI contributions are computed on, and the figure the provincial social security ceiling tracks. One notification therefore moves three numbers on your payroll.
It is also the figure we can tell you least about with confidence, and it is worth being plain about why. The federal government sets a rate for the Islamabad Capital Territory and announces one in the budget; each province then notifies its own. A budget announcement is not a notification, the two frequently differ, and the gazettes are not reliably published online.
Unskilled monthly minimum, 2026-27
Federal / Islamabad Capital Territory
Rs 40,700
Corroborated — the gazette notification itself was not obtained
In force from 1 July 2026
Announced in the Budget 2026-27 on 12 June 2026, raising the unskilled rate from PKR 37,000. Consistent across every account we read, including a notification tracker, but we did not obtain the gazette itself.
Punjab
Not established
Open question — do not file on this
The statute: the Budget 2026-27 announcement
Published figures cluster at PKR 40,000, variously dated to July 2025 and July 2026. We could not establish which notification is in force.
Sindh
Not established
Open question — do not file on this
The statute: the Budget 2026-27 announcement
Sources give both PKR 43,000 (reported as cabinet-approved for July 2026) and PKR 40,000. Not resolved.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
Not established
Open question — do not file on this
The statute: the Budget 2026-27 announcement
The provincial budget announced PKR 45,000 while the notified figure is reported as PKR 40,000. An announcement is not a notification, and we will not print either as fact.
Balochistan
Not established
Open question — do not file on this
The statute: the Budget 2026-27 announcement
Reported figures range from PKR 36,000 to PKR 37,000, on dates as old as July 2024. Not resolved.
Why four of these are blank
Because we could not establish them, and a compliance page that fills a gap with the most frequently repeated guess is a page that launders a rumour into a figure somebody files on. Four provincial rates are genuinely unsettled in the public record: in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa the budget announced a figure and the notified rate is reported as several thousand rupees lower; in Sindh two different figures circulate for the same month.
What to do instead: ask your provincial labour department for the notification currently in force, in writing, and keep the reply. It is the only version of this figure that will help you in a dispute, and it takes one email.
If you hold one of these notifications, send it to us. We will publish the figure, cite the gazette and credit you — which is more than the figure is worth to us and considerably more than a guess is worth to you.
What it affects on your payroll
- The floor on pay. No secured worker may be paid below the notified rate for their province and skill grade.
- EOBI, in full. Both the 5% employer and 1% employee contributions are computed on the minimum wage, not on actual pay. When the minimum wage rises, your EOBI bill rises for every single employee, including the ones paid far above it.
- The social security ceiling. Contributions stop at a ceiling that tracks the minimum wage by notification.
That third-order effect is the one that surprises finance teams: a minimum wage rise is not only a cost on your lowest-paid staff. It is a cost on your whole headcount, twice over.
Found something out of date?
These figures change by notification, often without announcement. If you hold a notification we have not seen — especially a provincial one — send it and we will correct the page and credit the source.