Cuban President Fidel Castro has announced the minimum wage would be more than doubled to 225 pesos (€7.60) a month from 100 pesos (€3.50) from next month.
President Castro made the announcement in the latest of his three-hour speeches addressing economic problems endured by Cubans since the collapse of the Soviet Union. It was the eighth speech in ten days broadcast live to the nation.
Castro said this would raise the average monthly wage in Cuba to 312 pesos (€11) from 282 pesos (€9.80) at a cost to the government of €37 million.
The raise will benefit 1.6 million Cubans who earn the lowest salaries in Communist Cuba, including farm labourers, plumbers, carpenters, bakers and undertakers.
Cubans welcomed the raises, but said it was still too little to live on. Rent and public services are heavily subsidised in Cuba, but essential consumer goods are more expensive than in the United States.
Many Cubans supplement their meagre wages working on the black-market, and many also receive cash from relatives abroad.
Mr Castro's drive to improve the lot of deprived Cubans began on March 8th, when he announced the distribution of cheap pressure cookers and electric rice steamers for every household.
On March 31st, he increase pensions and social security benefits by 50 per cent for 1.5 million Cubans. He has promised ration-book handouts of chocolate and better quality coffee.
Yesterday, the 78-year-old Cuban leader called on Cubans to save electricity to help the energy-deficient Caribbean island overcome chronic power outages. He promised the population new and more efficient household appliances, such as electric fans and refrigerators.
He displayed on stage two American-made Frigidaire and Westinghouse fridges from the 1950s that are still in use in Cuba, and homemade ventilators, as examples of appliances that consume too much electricity.