Congress proposes raising the minimum wage every two years

The Economy Commission of the Congress approved a bill (PL 1737/2021-CR) that strengthens the technical parameters for increasing the Minimum Vital Remuneration (RMV).

Said proposal determines that a study be prepared that incorporates factors such as inflation, unemployment, economic growth, levels of informality and the ratio between the RMV and average remuneration, mainly; which must be approved by the National Labor Council (CNT) and the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) for the Executive Power to evaluate the increase every two years.

“Companies, and especially SMEs, need predictability to function. No more political and populist use of the minimum wage,” argued congressman Alejandro Cavero (Avanza País), author of this text.

Carlos Anderson (not grouped) asked that the modification reach levels that allow a family to satisfy its basic basket, considering that poor families currently allocate an average of up to S/1,512 and the extreme poor, S/804, in a context in which that the RMV is S/1,025.

It is worth noting that the last two increases in the RMV occurred in the midst of a political crisis: Pedro Pablo Kuczsynszky, in 2018, took it from S/850 to S/930 and Pedro Castillo to S/1,025 that we see now. In general terms, since 2000, the basic salary has increased by S/615.

Destined Proposal

According to Fernando Cuadros Luque, former Vice Minister of Employment, Congress would be interfering in a cause that is absolutely up to the Ministry of Labor and Employment Promotion (MTPE).

“In 2007, a first technical mechanism was approved to review the RMV, and in 2022 some articulated adjustments were made that await approval when the dialogue resumes in the National Labor Council,” he explained to this newspaper.

Cuadros pointed out that this proposal has already been agreed upon by the workers and the Government of that time, for which reason it corresponds to the minister Alfonso Adrianzén to continue with this policy through a supreme decree once a dialogue is held with the business wing.

The specialist also specified that the initiative frozen in the MTPE determines a review of the RMV every year and, apart from annual inflation and average productivity, is committed to a moderate increase, since this would not occur if we are in recession or there is a rise in unemployment or informality.

“It has been reported informally that businessmen would not be against this proposal because it respects the essence of the 2007 document,” he added.