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December 29, 2020 – 11:55 pm
Newsroom of El País
As of January 1, 2021, the minimum wage in the country will rise to $ 908,526 and transportation assistance to $ 106,454, bringing the total figure to $ 1,014,980. The increase is 3.5% and was decreed yesterday by the President of the Republic, Iván Duque.
Both in wages and in transportation assistance, the increase was 3.5%, which if compared with the inflation that may be caused this year, which is estimated at 1.5%, will represent an increase of two percentage points.
“This increase is more than double inflation for the end of 2020 (1.5%),” said the President, who added that it is necessary to maintain a balance between purchasing power and protect and create new jobs.
He added on his Twitter account that “for the first time in the history of Colombia and fulfilling a campaign promise, the minimum wage will exceed, including the transportation subsidy, one million pesos.”
You can read: Minimum wage 2021: this was the increase in Colombia
The director of the Colombian American Chamber of Commerce, AmCham Colombia, María Claudia Lacouture, said that “it is important that the minimum wage in 2021 is kept above inflation to allow purchasing power. this is a moderate increase that will help the recovery of employment, maintain the path of economic reactivation and the formalization of labor that must continue to be promoted ”.
More reactions
Jaime Alberto Cabal, president of the National Federation of Merchants, Fenalco, considers that the increase in the minimum wage is weighted and generous, taking into account the negative growth of the Colombian economy this 2020, negative productivity and inflation of 1.5% .
“The readjustment allows, on the one hand, to increase several points in the purchasing power of workers and, on the other hand, to preserve the possibilities of recovering lost employment and generating employment for Colombians,” he said.
In turn, Jorge Enrique Bedoya, president of the Society of Farmers of Colombia (SAC), also expressed his support for the percentage of increase to the minimum wage and affirmed that the increase is responsible and grounded with the economic reality of the country.
“It is responsible for the economic conditions of Colombia. It must be remembered that inflation will surely be below 1.7% for this year, productivity was negative, we have the highest rate of labor informality that Colombia has in its accounts in recent decades and of course the issue of unemployment. You have to strike a balance, ”he explained.
Bedoya emphasized that although everyone wanted a higher income, the country’s economic conditions do not allow it at this time.
For the Minister of Labor, Ángel Custodio Cabrera, the increase in the minimum wage is similar to last year “when there was a growth of 3.3% vs. this year, we have a decrease of -6.6%. It is a response to maintain purchasing power without affecting reactivation ”.
He emphasized that the Government of President Duque is the one that has increased the minimum wage the most. “This is the government that has increased the minimum wage the most in real terms since 1985. So far as government, the accumulated rate is 7%,” he said.
The workers’ centrals say
Diógenes Orjuela, president of the Central Unitary of Workers, CUT, affirmed that the figure, which represents an increase of one thousand pesos a day, does not conform to the national reality and ignores the need for economic reactivation that requires an increase in income from the Colombians.
Percy Oyola, first vice president of the General Confederation of Labor (CGT), affirmed that the figure decreed by the Government does not cover the cost of the family basket and is very distant from that requested by the union movement at the negotiating table and leaves a big difference with the aspiration raised by the workers.
What did Andi say?
Bruce Mac Master, president of the employers’ union, said that it is an important increase, especially for the universe of companies that suffered in 2020 from the crisis generated by Covid.
“It is an act of solidarity with the workers, since a real increase of more than 1.5% is achieved over inflation this year. This has been a complex year because a lot of jobs were destroyed and the challenge is to get them back in the new year. This increase is the best way to overcome some of the social barriers that the country has. I believe that the purchasing power of Colombians is preserved ”, he commented.
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