A study carried out by the Equilibrium Cende Research Center indicates that half of Venezuelans over 18 years of age who live in the country receive between 1 and 100 US dollars, an insufficient figure to cover their needs in an inflationary context of the economy in the country. For its part, last March the Center for Documentation and Social Analysis (Cendas) indicated that the price of the Basic Food Basket, of 60 foods for a family of five people, was around 510 dollars.
A study on the income of Venezuelans, presented in the first week of May by the Equilibrium Cende Research Centerpointed out that half of those over 18 years of age who live in the country receive between 1 and 100 US dollars, an insufficient figure to cover their needs in an inflationary context of the country’s economy.
The study stems from a survey conducted last April, which shows that 11 million Venezuelans earn an income of $100 or less. Likewise, it was specified that 2% of the collected sample reports monthly incomes of more than 550 dollars, which translates into some 430,000 people who receive incomes above that amount.
For its part, the study indicates that 74% of Venezuelans over the age of 18 are earning $200 or less, while only 7%, around a million and a half people, receive income above $350 per month.
*Read also: Family Food Basket reached $510 during March, according to Cendas-FVM
Equiexpress also pointed out that a good part of the low income is directly linked to jobs in the public sector and to the pensions and retirements that the elderly receive.
Low income
It is worth noting that Nicolás Maduro did not announce an increase in the minimum wage, but instead reported an increase in the cestaticket (food voucher) to 40 dollars a month and the so-called “war bonus” to 20 dollars a month, which he later modified to 30 and which varies according to the employment status of the beneficiary.
During the announcement made on May 1, Labor Day, the president said that these benefits will be indexed to the dollar rate on a monthly basis, the one set by the Central Bank of Venezuela (BCV).
The last salary review declared by the authorities was in March 2022. For months, workers in education, health and other areas of the public sector have been holding weekly protests due to the delays in the increases. The public sector has a payroll of more than two million people and pensioners are around three million, according to data cited by Reuters.
The delay in salary increases has been part of a policy of cutting public spending that seeks to control inflation, along with other measures such as the injection of dollars into the exchange market.
Annualized inflation to April was 501%, according to the Venezuelan Finance Observatory, which monitors economic indicators in the absence of official data.
According to the also non-governmental Center for Documentation and Social Analysis (Cendas) the price of the Basic Food Basket, of 60 meals for a family of five people, was the equivalent of about 510 dollars in March.
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