Q24N (EFE) El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele proposed on Friday to raise the minimum wage for workers by 12% starting in mid-2025, for which he sent a proposal to the intersectoral National Minimum Wage Council.
Bukele made the announcement in a post on X, in which he indicated that this increase should apply starting next June in the maquila, industrial, agricultural, and services sectors, which have differentiated wages.
After a 20% increase implemented in 2021, the minimum wage for commerce and services was adjusted to US$365, that for maquila to US$354.36, while that for agriculture was set between US$243.45 and US$272.66.
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However, this proposal falls far short of the demand by some sectors of workers to raise it to US$600 to cover the basic food basket and other essential services.
Salvadoran law stipulates that the minimum wage must be reviewed every three years, and the last increases occurred in 2018 and 2021.
Despite this increase, El Salvador’s minimum wage would remain one of the lowest in Central America, ahead only of Nicaragua, according to a recently presented analysis by the Foundation for Studies on the Application of Rights (FESPAD).
The highest minimum wage would reach US$408.80 with the increase proposed by Bukele, while the lowest would reach US$272.60.
President Bukele stated at the inauguration of his second consecutive term, despite the Constitution’s prohibition, that during this five-year period he would seek to “heal” the economy after defeating the “cancer” of gangs.
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