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MongoliaWorking Conditions and Income
The Labor Law of the Mongolian People's Republic, enacted in
1973, set forth the framework governing working conditions, wages
and benefits, and trade union activity for workers and employees.
The labor of members of agricultural cooperatives was regulated
by individual negdel charters; they were based on the
Model Charter of the Union of Agricultural Associations, last
amended in 1979, and on other legislation. The Labor Law and
agricultural legislation emulated Soviet law.
Workers and employees had an eight-hour workday (six hours on
Saturdays and on the eve of holidays), eight public holidays, and
fifteen days' paid vacation. In 1989 some service collectives
were experimenting with a five-day workweek to determine whether
the country should change from a six-day to a five-day workweek.
Those engaged in arduous labor worked seven-hour days. Overtime
was restricted, with some exceptions for emergencies. Minors
(ages sixteen to eighteen; some fifteen-year-olds could obtain
permission to work) worked a seven-hour day, and they received
thirty days' paid vacation; arduous labor for minors was
prohibited. The Labor Law contained sanctions for those who
violated labor discipline and incentives for outstanding work
performances. Workers, employees, and negdel members
received compulsory state social insurance, paid for by their
employers or negdels. State social insurance provided
benefits for temporary incapacity to work because of illness,
pregnancy and birth; benefits for birth of a child and for
burial; and pensions for old age, disability, and loss of a
breadwinner. In addition, state social insurance funds maintained
a system of rest homes, sanitoriums, resorts for workers and
employees and their families, pioneer camps, and so forth. The
retirement age for the entire work force was sixty years for men
with twenty-five years' experience and fifty-five years for women
with twenty years' experience. Employers provided funds, full
pay, reduced work days, and leaves of absence in order to raise
the professional and technical qualifications of workers and
employees through study and training courses.
Because of the high percentage of women of childbearing age
in the labor force, the Labor Law contained provisions to protect
pregnant women and women with children younger than one year.
Refusal to hire women, reduction of their earnings, or dismissal
because of pregnancy or the existence of children were all
illegal. With medical commission concurrence, pregnant and
nursing mothers were eligible for a shortened workday and for
transfer to lighter work; they were not eligible for night work,
overtime, or business trips. Women received forty-five days'
pregnancy leave and fifty-six days' birth leave; women who did
not fully use their pregnancy leave could combine the remainder
with birth leave. Mothers also could combine pre-partum and
postpartum leave with annual leave. In addition, they could
receive an additional six months of unpaid leave and retain their
jobs. Nursing mothers were granted paid breaks of up to two hours
per day to nurse infants younger than six months and one hour to
nurse infants from six to twelve months. Workplaces with large
numbers of female employees were required to provide facilities
for nurseries, for kindergartens, for nursing mothers and
infants, and for personal hygiene
(see Position of Women
, ch. 2).
National income in Mongolia in the 1980s was supposed to be
distributed according to socialist principles contained in
Article 17 of the Constitution
(see Constitutional Framework
, ch.
4). First, the state deducted from the social fund for "the
expansion of socialist production, the creation of reserves, the
development of public health and education, the maintenance of
the aged and the disabled, and the satisfaction of the collective
requirements of members of society." Second, the remainder of
national income was distributed in accordance with the quality
and quantity of labor, based on the socialist principle "from
each according to his ability, to each according to his labor."
Information on real wages and income, however, was scarce.
Western sources estimated that 1985 per capita income was $880
based on gross domestic product
(GDP--see Glossary) and $1,000
based on GNP. Mongolian sources referred to raising wages and
income in percentage terms, but they rarely listed actual
numbers. The Economic and Social Development Guidelines for 1986-
90 stated that during the Seventh Plan real income per capita
rose by 12 percent, and they called for a 20-percent to 23-
percent increase in monetary income during the Eighth Plan. Real
income during the latter plan was to grow in part through wage
increases and in part through such measures as reduction of
electricity tariffs and a 30-percent increase in the minimum
pension for negdel members.
Government statistics provided only limited information on
salaries. For example, statistics on the growth rate of monthly
average salaries for workers and employees indicated that
salaries rose 44.2 percent between 1960 and 1985. Salaries of
production workers rose 54 percent, and those of nonproduction
employees rose 22.9 percent. No figures were available on the
actual level of salaries. Average annual wages for negdel
members rose from 474 tugriks in 1960 to 2,400 tugriks at the end
of the 1970s.
Data as of June 1989
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