Survey from the Universidad Tecnológica Empresarial de Guayaquil shows how income was affected by the pandemic. World Bank notes inequality in recovery.
The salary was reduced or worse still disappeared with the pandemic for 40% of workers. Those who are still employed count the days or months to recover the money they lost due to the adjustments that the law allowed companies to sustain themselves in the midst of the health and economic crisis.
June 2020. Rocío had been enrolled in her company for more than ten years, she had to sign a new contract for two years, for six hours a day and 25% less salary. They told him that when the bad situation was solved, he could request a refund at eight hours. She has already recovered her full payment because they took into account a medical condition, but her colleagues are still waiting for the company’s numbers to improve or for the two years of the new contract to be completed in six months.
How and what expenses to reduce to adjust the salary to the crisis and start 2021 with the accounts in order
A survey carried out by the Universidad Tecnológica Empresarial de Guayaquil (UTEG) shows the impact that income has had since March 2020 – when the confinement and sanitary emergency were declared in the country – to the present: 21.41% lost their job; 14.36% received less pay than usual; 3.25% resigned. These three consequences of COVID-19 add up to 39.02%. And there are others like that 24.12% had to work more hours than usual and another 12.20% had to work from another place.
And since the beginning of the pandemic until now, 39.84% say that the income received from employment or businesses of household members has been reduced: 25.75% by half; for 7.59% less than half and 6.50% have more than half.
The loss of income was global. This is how the World Bank reports it: all income groups suffered losses during the pandemic, but the poorest 20% had the steepest fall and in 2021 the poorest 40% have not begun to recover them, while the poorest groups revenues have already begun to contain this downward trend.
For this international organization, the inequality in the recovery becomes quite evident when it comes to income losses. And men and women have experienced the crisis in very different ways. A review of data by the Bank and other partners shows that women have suffered greater losses than men in terms of employment, income and security.
The UTEG indicates that “despite the greater flexibility of schedules, teleworking makes it more difficult to define from what time to what time we work, and may have negative effects on our mental and physical health, in this scenario we can see that 24.12% of those surveyed had to work more hours than usual, followed by 21.41% of people who lost their jobs, that is, 45.53% had to suffer negative effects after the pandemic, only 18.43% did not have any modification in their working reality ”.
It also mentions a “highly relevant” data: 50.68% are households where men and women contribute to financial support, in 32.25% only one person and the rest have more than three contributors, according to the survey carried out. 370 people in Guayaquil. Although it indicates that women are the most affected by the overload of unpaid care work.
These care and salary reduction are some reasons why 18% of them resigned in the pandemic, according to a study by the Organization and Promotion of the Violet Economy (OPEV), 48% lost their jobs. And of those who are currently unemployed, 46% are trying to work in an enterprise, only 27% are looking for a job and 26% are dedicated exclusively to household chores, says President María José Zambrano, who mentions another aspect that affects to income: the wage gap that reaches 28.5%, “means that for every dollar that a man is generating, we are generating 71 cents.”
Women in pandemic: 48% lost their job, 18% had to resign and are now financially dependent on their partner
These days the month and the year end and in January some 500,000 workers will receive $ 25 more per month, due to the salary increase set by the Government. Those who earn basic salaries in each sector will have a 6.25% increase. Those who receive more than the basic and lost a percentage due to the Humanitarian Support Law must wait a few more months to resume their salary. Other companies do anticipate small hikes on their own. For example, Deloitte carried out an investigation in which 130 companies participated and 58% of the companies have projected increases on average of 3.23% (3.56% national and 2.84% multinational). 11% of the sample will not make increases and 31% have not yet defined what they will do. In these projections, the sectors with the highest increases are health (6%), insurance (5.5%) and financial (3.9%).
80% are in a mixed session or in person
Deloitte says that telecommuting enabled the implementation of hybrid work-day models. The results of their study of 130 companies indicate that 46% of these mention that they maintain a mixed day (that is, the person can work some days virtual and others in person), 34% in person and 18% are in person or in person. teleworking (they are distributed according to area, position and / or level under face-to-face or teleworking) and only 2% are working only virtually.
Charges that could go away
The firm highlights the redesign of the structures within the change process and details the positions considered critical: digital transformation leader, web designer e-marketing / e-commerce, customer service executive, business advisor and information security specialist. On the other hand, it identifies positions that will disappear from the structures due to the new work dynamics: administrative assistants, general services, documentation, receptionists, management assistants and messengers.
New approach to startups
55.48% of those surveyed by the Guayaquil Business Technology University did not decide to undertake to face the pandemic; analyzes who is the group that kept their job. The president of Organization and Promotion of the Violet Economy (OPEV), María José Zambrano, indicates that these do not last more than two years and that is why entrepreneurships should be promoted, but in innovation, in the digital economy, green economy, circular . “We cannot continue to link ourselves to manufacturing and artisan activities, because there is a slow growth curve. We are going for the innovative and global look, not local ”. (I)
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