Colombia, Peru, Guatemala, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay and Mexico recently announced their adjustments to the minimum wage between 6% to 12%. With the new amounts, Venezuela is in last place in the ranking of countries with a monthly salary of 2.5 dollars, at the official exchange rate
At least eight countries in the region, in addition to the United States, have already decided to increase the amount of the minimum wage that will come into effect in 2025. The improvement in wages occurred in a context of discussions between representatives of workers, businessmen and governments, and although not in all cases an agreement was reached that satisfied everyone, at least there was an adjustment that will allow an increase in salary and pension income. Meanwhile, in Venezuela the minimum wage remains stagnant at 130 bolivars per month in 2022.
Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Guatemala, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay and Mexico recently announced their adjustments to the minimum wage between 6% to 12%. With the new amounts, Venezuela is in last place in the ranking of countries with a monthly salary of 2.5 dollars, at the official exchange rate of 51.93 bolivars per dollar on Monday, December 30.
Nations such as Costa Rica, Uruguay and Chile lead the regional list with minimum salaries that exceed $500. Then come Argentina ($302), Colombia ($322), Brazil ($260), Ecuador ($460), Guatemala ($421), Mexico ($402), Chile ($521) and Uruguay ($570). Paraguay shows a salary of $358 and the government has already reported that it will define an adjustment in mid-2025. Like Brazil, which anticipates that in 2025 there will be an increase to about $241.
The minimum wage in the United States – for its part – will increase in 21 states as of January 1, 2025. In the North American nation there are federal and state minimum wage standards. The amount has remained at $7.25 per hour since 2009 at the federal level, but Several states have made recurring adjustments to their limits in recent years.
Although there will be 21 states that will increase their minimum wage from January 2025, others, along with the city of Washington, will do so over the course of the year, according to information from GovDocs, the NCSL and the United States Department of Labor. according to a CNN note. Some will change it in July or September, and there are even states that have already scheduled them for subsequent years. In this sense, the new adjustments range from $10.56 per hour (Michigan) and $16.66 per hour (Washington), that is, between $1,689 and $2,665 per month for an eight-hour day for 20 business days.
Other North American states will leave the minimum wage at $7.25 an hour, so the monthly income remains at $1,160.
If the indexed comprehensive minimum income of $130, created by government decree in Venezuela and composed of the “bonus against economic war” of $90 and the basket ticket of $40, Workers’ income would continue to be below the minimum wages in the region.
Hopeless in 2025
In Venezuela, the administration of Nicolás Maduro has not mentioned whether there will be an increase in the minimum wage in 2025. Despite conversations on the subject with employers and unions before the International Labor Organization (ILO) in the Social Dialogue Forum, The government has been inflexible in making adjustments. He also insists on approving increases in bonds that are distributed through the Homeland System, which do not reach all workers and pensioners and have no impact on the rest of the salary benefits.
The last time there was an increase in the minimum wage was in May 2022 to bring it to 130 bolivars and when they represented 40 dollars, according to the exchange rate of that period; while It has been almost two years since the vice president of the economic area, Delcy Rodríguez, stated that “in a few hours”Maduro would announce a decision in this regard.
From that moment to date, the inflation rate and devaluation have not stopped rising. The Venezuelan economy emerged from the hyperinflation process that lasted three years, however, it still maintains high inflation levels. While the fixed and parallel exchange rates show constant increases, which pulverizes any income of Venezuelans.
On May 1, Maduro announced his decision to raise the minimum comprehensive income for workers to $130. This was nothing more than an increase in the so-called “bonus against the economic war” to “90 dollars that is paid through the homeland system, as well as the basket ticket or food voucher at $30.
The minimum wage is clearly established in article 91 of the Constitutionwhich obliges the State to guarantee “to workers in the public and private sectors a minimum living wage that will be adjusted each year, taking as one of the references the cost of the basic basket. The law will establish the form and procedure”.
The figure of the minimum income was created by Presidential Decree Number 4,805 of May 2, 2023, published in Extraordinary Official Gazette Number 6,746 of May 1 of that same year, in which the “socialist cestaticket” was adjusted and, created “a unique solidarity protection supplement, without salary incidence, called Bonus against economic war”, which is collected by active public sector workers, pensioners and retired.
Then a new figure was added: that of the indexed comprehensive minimum income, which was introduced by the Pension Protection Law of Social security against the Imperialist Blockade (Pension Law), published in the Extraordinary Official Gazette Number 6,806 of May 8, 2024. With this, the indexation of income with amounts adjusted to the exchange rate published by the BCV seeks in some way to compensate for the effects of inflation and devaluation.
In a workshop organized by the Center for the Dissemination of Economic Knowledge (Cedice), researchers Henkel García and Daniel Lahoud pointed out that by 2024 there will be a significant slowdown, which is why they foresee a stagnant economy that will bring “as a consequence a stagnant salary.”
That is why by 2025 – they agree – there will not be an increase in the minimum wage. “It is practically impossible for there to be an increase in the minimum wage because the majority of public spending goes to payroll payments,” García said. He explained that it is very possible that the restriction on State spending that was observed in 2024 will continue next year.
Lahoud, for his part, showed two scenarios for 2025, one more positive than others where he calculates economic growth of 1% and inflation of 60%. However, he maintained that in any case, if the government’s fiscal voracity is not reduced, political uncertainty is not dissipated and if the United States economy enters a recession, there will be no positive results for the salary income of Venezuelans due to the decline in the country’s income.
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