The government and the social partners have reached an agreement on raising the national minimum wage, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat announced in a tweet this afternoon.
Dr Muscat said he was proud of this accomplishment. The last time that the minimum wage was raised beyond the cost of living allowance was 27 years ago.
Talks were held over the past months between the government, trade unions and employers' associations after the government in the Budget speech announced its intention to review the situation.
READ: How Malta's minimum wage compares to that in other EU countries
Caritas had for the past few years spearheaded calls for the minimum wage to be raised, arguing that it was woefully inadequate for current needs.
It issued cost of living surveys to back its claims.
Just under 4,000 currently receive the minimum wage, which is €736 a month.
READ: Minimum wage: getting by on €728 a month
In a statement, the government said the agreement, reached within the Malta Council for Economic and Social Development (MCESD) was the first of its nature since 1989 when the cost of living adjustment (COLA) mechanism was established.
The new agreement is to be signed on Friday.
The prime minister said this was the realisation of a dream, coming in the same week as Malta was celebrating a surplus of over €100m, when employment levels had already reached what had been targeted for 2020 and when the use of heavy fuel oil had ended.
"The roadmap which families and businesses had chosen is succeeding," Dr Muscat said in a statement.
He thanked all those involved in reaching the agreement, including Deputy Prime Minister Louis Grech, who led the talks for the government.
The opposition will be invited for the signing since it has already declared it will back it, the government said.
REACTIONS
In a reaction, the Kampanja Paga Minima Diċenti (KPMD) lobby group welcomed the agreement.
It said that for the raise to be sensible and genuine, the raise should be of 11% spread over three years.
"The current booming state of the economy can surely sustain such a conservative increase," it said.
The Democratic Party welcomed the agreement and said it looks forward to seeing the details.
It said it supports the 11% increase in the minimum wage proposed by NGOs.
"The Democratic Party in government would work towards increasing the minimum wage to reflect the social reality we are living in," the party said.