The Ministry of Labor denied the ranking made by bloomberg line which placed the Dominican Republic as the third Latin American country with the minimum salary lower.
The organization explained that the current weighted average of the existing minimum wages in the country is RD$ 17,873, equivalent to 318 US dollars, therefore, in the order established by the economic portal, the Dominican Republic would occupy position 7 of the rankingsurpassing Honduras, Peru, Brazil, Colombia, Argentina and Venezuela.
In a letter sent to this outlet, the ministry explained that Bloomberg based his study on the amount of 11,500 pesos corresponding to the minimum salary of non-sectorized microenterprises that was paid in 2021. This salary was increased to 11,900 since January of last year.
Similarly, he pointed out that making a ranking with the value of minimum salary of microenterprises that only represent 13% of workers in the formal private sector does not adjust to the reality of income in a country that has 17 different minimum wages, the highest being that of large companies (RD$21,000) that formal jobs in the private sector represent 52%, followed by small companies (RD$12,900) with 21% of jobs and medium-sized companies (RD$19,250) that represent 15%.
“Choosing the lowest of all minimum wages are sectorized, which, in addition, concentrates the lowest percentage of formal private workers in the country, generates, in our opinion, incorrect data and a biased vision of the wage reality in the Dominican Republic,” it reads. the clarifying.
For him Ministry of Labor that statistically can offer a data closer to the salary reality of the country would be to use the weighted average.
“When using the weighted average, the value of the minimum salary is RD$17,873.00, equivalent to US$318.00. Calculated in this way, the positioning in the ranking the Dominican Republic would be placed in seventh place, right between Honduras and Mexico,” he said.
