Myanmar has set a minimum wage for the garment industry. Once a thriving industry, Myanmar’s garment sector was hit hard by sanctions imposed by the United States, stripped of trade benefits and abandoned by brands who feared the reputational risk associated with the former junta. In a bid to change this, Myanmar lawmakers passed a minimum wage law in 2013, but negotiations between employers, trade unions and the government were delayed by garment workers' strikes and threats from garment factory owners - many from China and South Korea - to close if the minimum wage was set too high.

Myanmar’s new minimum monthly pay gives it a competitive advantage over thriving garment makers such as Vietnam and Cambodia. The approved wage would apply to workers across all sectors, but exclude small and family-run businesses that employ fewer than 15 people. The wage will come into effect on September 1. The move is likely to boost investment in the country's garment industry. Myanmar exported $1.5 billion worth of clothes and materials in 2014, up from $1.2 billion the previous year and $947 million in 2012. The country’s economy is expected to expand about eight per cent in the current fiscal year.