{"id":10380,"date":"2023-01-16T13:59:50","date_gmt":"2023-01-16T21:59:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/?p=10380"},"modified":"2023-01-16T13:59:50","modified_gmt":"2023-01-16T21:59:50","slug":"unequal-salaries-wages","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/economy\/unequal-salaries-wages\/?lang=en","title":{"rendered":"Unequal Salaries\/Wages"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Mar\u00eda Longo<\/p>\n

Minimum wage set for working Guatemalans is insufficient to cover the basics of subsistence living.\u00a0 Meanwhile civil servants and other public workers have exorbitant salaries and wages.<\/p>\n

For 2023 the Guatemalan government set the minimum monthly earnings for the Department of Guatemala at Q 3,416.38 (approximately $456) for all sectors other than agricultural and for the remainder of the country at Q $3,327.56 ($ 444 approx.).\u00a0 In both cases this minimum is below the basic cost of living as of October 2022 when it was at Q 3,633.85 ($485 approximately).<\/p>\n

At this minimal level it is impossible to purchase the 34 essential products of what is considered a more extensive list of basics for a household of 4.7 persons.\u00a0 Even with two minimum incomes such a list of basics is illusionary.\u00a0 Up until 2022 this more generous list came to a cost of Q 8,390.33 ($ 1119 approx.).<\/p>\n

Included in the expanded list of necessary basics are essential foods, clothing, housing, healthcare, means of communication and transportation, recreation and cultural activities, education, restaurant, hotel and various other goods and services.<\/p>\n

Purchasing basic living essentials is even more difficult for agricultural workers.\u00a0 In the Department of Guatemala the minimum wage of an agricultural worker comes to<\/p>\n

Q 3,323.60\/month ($ 443 approximately).\u00a0 In other departments it is Q 3,237.53 ($ 432 approx.).\u00a0 Those working in manufacturing and exported goods face the same difficulties.\u00a0 In the Department of Guatemala their minimum wage comes to Q 3,143.54\/mo. ($ 419 approx.).\u00a0 In the rest of the country it\u2019s Q 3,062.63 ($ 408 approx.)<\/p>\n

Many people figure out ways to survive on minimum wage.\u00a0 They cut back on how many times they eat.\u00a0 They reduce meat consumption.\u00a0 They work two jobs.\u00a0\u00a0 They eat less at each meal and work more.\u00a0 Meanwhile government officials and civil servants receive extremely high salaries.\u00a0 In December 2022 Justices on the Supreme Court gave themselves a raise of Q 32, 000 ($ 4267 approx.).\u00a0 The current Chief Justice, Silvia Valdez, will earn Q 46,800-Q79,000\/month ($ 6133- $ 10,533\/mo. approx.)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

A worker who earns minimum wage would need to work three additional years to make what government officials are paid in a month.\u00a0 President Alejandro Giammattei receives Q 148,838\/mo. ($ 19,845\/mo. approx.). The mayor of Villa Nueva, Javier Gramajo, makes<\/p>\n

Q 121,550\/mo. ($ 16,207\/mo. approx.).\u00a0 The mayor of Quetzaltenango, Juan Fernando Lopez, makes at least Q 101,000\/mo.\u00a0 ($ 13467\/mo. approx.)<\/p>\n

\u201cLow Wages Increase Inequality: The Impact of Salary Differences in the Home\u201d, a study presented by OXFAM in 2016 explains that similar to wealthy countries, in developing countries, the main source for household and personal income is wages.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn societies around the world inequality is increasing to intolerable levels and differences between the highest wages\/salaries and the lowest are the main cause.\u00a0 Wage gap increases and affects living conditions for male and female workers world-wide, especially affecting the poorest and most vulnerable who can not count on sufficient income to cover necessities.\u00a0 In most countries inequality has reached insufferable limits, weakening people\u2019s ability to lift themselves out of poverty, eroding the dynamics and sustainability of economic growth, also greatly limiting opportunity for prosperity in societies.\u00a0 Just in the last 25 years, rents world-wide have doubled.\u00a0\u00a0 Ten percent of the wealthiest are the ones who\u2019ve most taken advantage of these opportunities, taking more than half of this increase for themselves,\u201d according to the report.<\/p>\n

Wage and salary inequalities also cross gender.\u00a0 In Guatemala there\u2019s a wage difference between men and women.\u00a0 The 2021 study, Female Workers in Guatemala, by ASIES (Association for Investigation and Social Studies) and the EU found that the average Q 2,232 ($ 300 approx.) earned by a working woman in Guatemala is 8 % less than the national average.\u00a0 For Guatemalan men the gap is 12%.\u00a0 By occupational category the largest gap is for agricultural workers, again with a gender gap.\u00a0 Other important differences are among day laborers both in agricultural employment and in other types of work.\u00a0 The lowest gap is found among public sector employees.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Mar\u00eda Longo Minimum wage set for working Guatemalans is insufficient to cover the basics of subsistence living.\u00a0 Meanwhile civil servants and other public workers have exorbitant salaries and wages. For 2023 the Guatemalan government set the minimum monthly earnings for the Department of Guatemala at Q 3,416.38 (approximately $456) for all sectors other than […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10376,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[411,410,453],"tags":[4053,4052,4050,4054,4051],"class_list":["post-10380","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alternative-economy","category-economy","category-frontpage-en","tag-job-insecurity-in-guatemala","tag-labor-inequality-in-guatemala","tag-salary-minimum-in-guatemala","tag-unemployed-women-in-guatemala","tag-unemployment-in-guatemala"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/money-2180330_960_720.jpg?fit=960%2C640&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7ljt7-2Hq","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":10356,"url":"https:\/\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/economy\/guatemala-needs-decent-jobs\/?lang=en","url_meta":{"origin":10380,"position":0},"title":"Guatemala needs decent jobs","author":"EntreMundos","date":"16 enero, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"By Mar\u00eda Longo Finding a job in Guatemala is no easy task, but finding a decent job is even more complicated. 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