Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said the minimum income for workers will be 130 dollars a month, without explaining what bonuses for public sector employees and pensioners will be included in this amount and whether it provides for an increase in the minimum monthly wage, Reuters reported, quoted by BTA.
Maduro announced the change amid workers' demands for higher wages, months before presidential elections in which he is seeking a third term.
Wage increases have failed to match the double- and triple-digit annual inflation recorded over the past year, Reuters notes. By March, consumer prices had increased by 67.75% year-on-year. The monthly minimum wage of 130 bolivars, equivalent to $3.50 at the official exchange rate, has not been adjusted since March 2022, but the government paid bonuses to public sector workers and pensioners, raising them to 100 in February this year dollars.
"Today I decide to raise the overall minimum income of workers to at least $130,", Maduro said at an event marking International Labor Day. “We will restore the workers' income, the country's income, step by step”.
This year, Maduro's government has stepped up its efforts to bring inflation down to double digits as it seeks to boost social spending ahead of elections. Unions for teachers, university professors, health workers and others have demanded wage adjustments to make up for losses from inflation over the past few years.
According to the teachers union, food costs for one family are more than $500 a month, notes Reuters.