Budget took ‘zero action’ to restart wage growth: Congress

New Delhi, Jul 25 (PTI) The Congress on Thursday claimed that “stagnant wages” had dragged down consumption growth and disincentivised the private sector from investment, and said Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman took “zero action” to restart wage growth.

Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said the Economic Survey confirmed the “worst-kept secret of the non-biological PM’s government” — real wages were stagnating in rural areas.

“Stagnant wages have dragged down consumption growth and disincentivised the private sector from investment. It’s directly responsible for the cycle of low GDP growth of the last decade,” he said in a post on X.

The finance minister’s budget has taken “zero action” to restart wage growth, Ramesh said.

He also shared a graph that showed real rural wages for men had stagnated over the last three years and remained low.

After the Budget was presented by Sitharaman on Tuesday, the Congress said the government seemed to be “blissfully ignorant” of its own statistics that wages had stagnated in the last six years while inflation was raging.