Minimum wage will rise “at the latest” before the end of the year

Exactly one year ago, President Dina Boluarte He promised to raise the minimum wage. He did not keep his promise. After the recession, with the emotional blow of a GDP that exceeded 5% in April and May, he guaranteed that the increase would materialize this year.

“We have called the National Council for Labor and Employment Promotion (CNT) to agree on the increase of the Minimum Vital Remuneration (RMV), which should be effective, at the latest, in the last quarter of this year,” Boluarte Zegarra pointed out in his second speech on July 28.

According to the former Vice Minister of Employment Promotion Fernando Cuadros Luque, it is good that the CNT is being supported to study the possible increase, although he considers that It is a late action, since, guided by Boluarte’s words, we will wait until the end of the year to increase the minimum wage, which condemns the million Peruvians who subsist on S/1,025 per month after three years without raising the minimum wage.

“It will depend a lot on the political will of the MTPE because, in case there is no agreement for the increase (in the CNT), the Executive has the full power to do so through a supreme decree,” Cuadros noted for La República.

It is worth adding that the CNT is a tripartite consultative space made up of the Ministry of Labour and Employment Promotion (MTPE), trade union organisations and business associations; and in its recent history it has suffered the interruption of dialogue – from the employers’ side – due to its rejection of the end of labour outsourcing in nuclear activities, for example.

Cuadros recalled that the CNT has had a formula since 2007 —and updated by the ILO in 2022— that establishes an annual periodicity to review the RMV, respecting factors such as inflation and the future of the economy. If this formula were applied, the RMV would be S/1,168 —and S/1,249 with that of 2007—.

Along these lines, he comments that if the eventual increase occurs from 2025, it would have to rise to at least S/1,250, since the purchasing power of workers will continue to deteriorate while waiting for the debate in the CNT. Note that said increase can even occur in two parts to avoid an abrupt change.

For his part, Roberto de la Tore, president of the Lima Chamber of Commerce (CCL), told this newspaper that they are “concerned” about the increase in the RMV and that it should be analyzed technically by the CNT and respecting the growth of productivity, something that has not been done in recent years.

And for Julio Pérez, president of ADEX, “The state of the economy” must be assessed, since many companies, especially SMEs, “are in a worrying situation.”