Dominican Republic announces 19% increase in the minimum wage for the non-sectorized private sector

The President of the Dominican Republic, Luis Abinader, headed a press conference this Wednesday to announce a 19% salary increase to the minimum wage of the non-sectorized private sector.

A 15% will be effective as of April and 4% in February 2024, as set by the National Wages Committee (CNS), said the president alongside Minister of Labor Luis Miguel De Camps.

According to the Ministry of Labor, this agreed increase represents the highest coverage of the cost of the basic food basket in the last 20 years.

It results from six months of negotiations between the government, employers, and unions.

With this adjustment, as of April 2023, workers in large companies will earn US$437.90; those in medium-sized companies US$ 401.41; those in small companies US$ 268.99; and in micro-enterprises US$ 253.58.

By February 2024, the minimum wage will be US$455.41 for large companies; US$417.46 for employees of medium-sized companies; US$279.75 for small companies; and US$258.06 for micro-enterprises.

The members of the CNS also agreed that this increase be applied to private security guards whose current salary is US$ 312.78, placing the increase at US$ 359.70 in April 2023 and US$ 374.09 by February 2024.

The same measure will apply to farm workers whose current wage of US$9.07 per day will increase to S$10.43 per day and US$10.84 per day in February 2024.

According to a recent Bloomberg Linea analysis, the Dominican Republic is the third among 14 countries in the region with the lowest minimum wage, surpassing Venezuela (US$8.00) and Argentina (US$189.00).

The Central Bank of the Dominican Republic (BCRD) reported this week that the monthly variation of the consumer price index (CPI) was 0.11% in February.

In this sense, the inter-annual inflation, i.e., for the last twelve months, dropped 86 basis points from 7.24% in January 2023 to 6.38% in February of this year.

With information from Bloomberg

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