ULAN BATOR, Aug. 20 (Xinhua) -- Mongolia is going to raise its monthly minimum wage to 320,000 Mongolian tugriks (129.8 U.S. dollars) as of Jan. 1 2019, the country's Minister of Labor and Social Protection Sodnom Chinzorig announced on Monday.

It was agreed by Mongolia's Tripartite Council, which brings together representatives of the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection, employers, and trade unions, to increase the minimum wage by 80,000 Mongolian tugriks (32.4 U.S. dollars) from the beginning of the next year, the minister said in a press conference.

The country raised the monthly minimum wage last time in January 2017, from 192,000 Mongolian tugriks (77.9 U.S. dollars) to 240,000 Mongolian tugriks (97.4 U.S. dollars).

Currently, a total of 1.1 million people are employed in the country, of whom about 8 percent receive minimum-wage salaries, according to data released by the National Statistical Office.