According to the Cuesta Duarte report on wages for the second quarter of 2022, the official information available regarding the evolution of real wages shows “clearly the contrast between a growing economy, with an expansion of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of 4.4 % in 2021 and a projection of 4.8% for this year, and the trajectory of falling purchasing power of wages as well as the delay in the recovery process.
Continuing with the report of the Pic-Cnt economic institute “today the Uruguayan economy is capable of generating greater wealth than in 2019, but the real wage bill has not only not grown in the same proportion, but has also decreased in absolute terms, causing a substantive worsening in the distribution between labor and capital”.
“The salary adjustments implemented in July 2021 and January 2022 (beyond the fact that some sectors of activity may have had salary increases in other months)” have been insufficient not only to develop the beginning of the recovery as had been promised, but to maintain the purchasing power of wages”, according to the aforementioned analysis.
Therefore, “the real wage level for June 2022 is the lowest in the entire series counting from January 2020.”
The common Uruguayan “has already been accumulating 28 months of loss, compared to a reference level of the average real salary of 2019.”
