Find out the average salaries of official employees in each of the 221 cantons of Ecuador

The presence of a military or police base and a public sector university, as well as large or medium-sized companies in the industrial or mining sector, makes a difference in the level of wages paid in the canton of Ecuador.

The statistical register of enterprises of the State Bureau of Statistics and Population Censuses enables the distribution of 221 cantons in the country according to the amount of average monthly salaries paid in formal jobs in their territories.

This measurement includes registered employment defined as “the set of people of working age (over 15 years old) who in the reference year performed the activity of producing goods or providing services in exchange for compensation or benefits, and who are registered in Ecuador Social Security Institute (IESS ).”

In which cantons of Ecuador are the best salaries and in which jobs?

It is not surprising that the three cantons of the Galapagos Islands are in the first places, but the novelty is that the two mining cantons of Zamora Chinchipe (Yantzaza and El Pangui), the headquarters of open-air mining projects, also appear. Therefore, the mining and quarrying sector is the one that creates the most formal jobs with access to social security in these territories.

In the top ten of those recording a higher average salary are two cantons that already have open-pit mining projects indicated, plus three in the Galapagos whose basic salary is twice as high as that of the other provinces (that is, it is 900 dollars this year). ) and which focus their activity on tourism.

In sixth place is the Metropolitan District of Quito, which has a high level of wages mainly thanks to the bureaucracy that earns significantly more than what the private sector pays.

Coronel Marcelino Maridueña, in Guayas, ranks seventh. It is home to large companies in the sugar, alcoholic beverages and cardboard industries, so the processing industry sector is the one that offers the most jobs.

The cantons of Guamote (Chimborazo), Santiago (Morona Santiago) and Jipijapa (Manabí), which round out the list of ten with the highest average incomes, are distinguished by the dynamism of the public administration, defense and social security sectors that reflect the presence of a state entity in their territories ruled by a high salary level.

In the last positions are the cantons that focus their economy on agriculture, sometimes on subsistence, without the presence of companies dedicated to agro-export or the production of any specific product.

Below is a list of the country’s 221 cantons ranked by the average monthly compensation paid by official jobs in those jurisdictions.

The value does not take into account the total number of people who are looking for a formal job with social security in these cantons and who, when they cannot find one, engage in informal activities, migrate or are unemployed.

It does not tell the total number of formal jobs offered by their cantonal economies, nor does it talk about the dynamics in different sectors, so it does not necessarily reflect the level of well-being that the entire population can have, since it focuses only on those who have a job with access to social security.

The average salary is calculated only from the income of the jobs that are looking for companies that are registered as legal in accordance with the labor regulations.

The provincial capital with the lowest average salary is Machala, which is in 181st place with $634.08. While the cantons with more than 190 thousand inhabitants occupying the last positions are Manta, Milagro and Daula.