Even with minimum wage increase, Colombia would still be below regional average

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Recently, Colombian President Iván Duque said he expects a 10.07% increase in the minimum wage in the country, with an amount that would reach close to COP 1 million (Colombian pesos), or a little more than US$257.

However, despite this possible increase, Colombia would still be well below the average minimum wage compared to the rest of the countries in the region.

Read also: Check out our coverage on Colombia

Compared to each of the currencies in Latin America, Uruguay would be the country with the highest minimum wage in the region at today’s dollar exchange rate.

The Uruguayan Ministry of Labor established that from January 1st of this year, the new value for the National Minimum Wage (SMN) is UYU 17,930 per month (Uruguayan pesos), equivalent in dollars of US$405.55.

It is followed by Chile, which traditionally has one of the highest minimum wages in Latin America with US$401.03 for employees over 18 and up to 65 years of age.

However, the country has two other differential salaries established for workers under 18 and over 65, which are US$298.27, and US$257.73 for non-remunerative purposes.

The third highest salary in South America is that of Ecuador, with a Unified Basic Wage of US$400, which remained the same as last year, given that the Labor Code of that country requires the minimum wage to be calculated with the projected inflation for this year, which was expected to be -1.01%, and therefore could not be increased.

In the case of Colombia, currently, the minimum salary is $908,526, which, when adding the transportation allowance of COP 106,454, results in a value of COP 1,014,980.

Compared to the Representative Market Rate in effect as of this Monday, which is $ 3,887.71, the salary in Colombia is US$233.69, with a transportation allowance of US$27.38, that is, a total of US$261.07.