The Dominican Association of Home Builders and Developers (Acoprovi) warned today that the salary increase that came into effect for workers of the construction sector and related areas could have a significant impact of up to 7% of increase of the price of the living place.
Although he welcomed the interest in improving the conditions salaries of the employees of the construction sector in the country, highlighted the need for there to be a balance in the measures adopted to not impact the cost of the households.
Recently, the approval of seven resolutions by the National Wage Committee was announced, establishing a increase wage 20% for workers in the construction sector and related areas.
- He increase wage announced applies to both formal and independent workers. It will be implemented in two phases: 12% retroactive from May 1 and the remaining 8% from January 1, 2025.
In search of your reconsideration, Acoprovi reported that on May 28 of this year he submitted to the authorities a challenge regarding said increasebased on article 461 of the Labor Code.
Acoprovi highlighted that the cost of hand of construction site constitutes up to 30% of the total cost of constructions.
“Taking into account that the average of the inflation annual rate in recent years is around 5.54%, a increase wage of 20% is unpredictable in construction budgets and could have a significant impact of up to 7% increase of the price of the living place“he warned.
The main concern is that this increase could result in a large number of households get out of the low cost rangeremoving the bonus facility for units already sold.
“In that scenario, many Dominicans would find it difficult to complete the down payment and a large number of families would not have access to a living place worthy,” said the union.
Improvement with “balance”
“It is essential to improve the conditions labor of the employees of the construction. And to do it in a sustainable way, preventing informality and guaranteeing households affordable, it is necessary for all sectors to sit down and find a way to apply sustainable improvements,” said Annerys Meléndez, president of Acoprovi.
He reported that an analysis of increases in salary of the construction sector with respect to inflation accumulated reveals that since 2020, by including this increasethe wages would have increased by 59%, when the consumer price index published by the Central Bank indicates a inflation accumulated of 26.16%, so the wages would be increasing more than double compared to the inflation.
He added: “The increase disproportionate of the wages can be a counterproductive measure by stimulating informality and unemployment, with all the collateral effects that this entails, which is why we proceeded to challenge“.
Acoprovi considers it essential to find a balance that guarantee conditions labor fair and sustainable for workers, while promoting economic growth in the construction sector and ensuring that Dominicans can continue to access households worthy
