In December will be the days of discussion and agreement on the increase in the minimum wage of 2023 between the parties involved: the National Government, the labor unions and the private sector.
(These are the ‘fiscal hells’ that defy the OECD).
Unlike other occasions, the negotiations take place in the midst of a complex local scenario of high inflation, which as of October 2022 the annual figure was 12.22%and the rise of the dollar, as well as the growing expectation about future labor and pension reforms.
It is worth noting that, as experts have stated on several occasions, economic and other jurisprudential parameters are taken into account to set the minimum wage that applies annually.
(The factors that will determine the rise in the minimum wage for 2023).
In the first case, mainly, inflation for the year and its projection for the following are taken as a reference. Also the annual GDP and its projection, the contribution of productivity to the growth of the economy and the contribution of wages to national income.
In particular, Colombian law dictates that The increase in the minimum wage can never be less than the increase in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) in the year that is ending.
(The nonconformity of the unions over the tax reform persists).
For example, says Stefano Farné, director of the Externado University of Colombia’s Labor Market and Social Security Observatory, “Last year we had a very heated atmosphere when the minimum wage was being negotiated. An increase of 10.1% was agreed when inflation was only 5.6%“.
And he adds that although talking about a prognosis is difficult, “lWhat I can say is that inflation will hardly be less than 12% at the end of 2022 and, furthermore, it will not be a year with a substantial increase in productivity, because both GDP and employment grew, so this indicator may not exceed 1%“.
Therefore, if what the expert said is true, the increase in the minimum wage must be greater than 12%.
BRIEFCASE
