Ismael Bermúdez
01/18/2021 9:24 AM
Clarín.com
Economy
Updated 01/18/2021 9:58 AM
During 2020, the living and mobile minimum wage (SMVM)
lost “by a landslide”
against inflation.
In nominal terms, in one year it went from
16,875 pesos
for monthly workers to
$ 20,587.50
, an increase of just
22%
, compared to an average inflation of
36.1%
.
It represents an end-to-end
loss of 14.1%
.
Regarding the basket of indigence, which the INDEC will report this week and which in the City of Buenos Aires was
43.9%,
the loss
will exceed 15%,
If to this real drop in the minimum wage during the first year of Alberto Fernández's administration is added the 24.4% decline that he had during the 4 years of Macri administration, the collapse of the minimum vital and mobile wage (SMVM)
would accumulate a loss of 32% in 5 years
.
This decline will be accentuated in the coming months because the SMVM is expected to rise to
$ 21,600
in March
, an increase of
almost 5%
that is discounted
will be below the price increase
in these months.
That is why
Artemio López
from the Equis Consultant estimates that "when the minimum wage reaches $ 21,600, it
would be 20% below the level prior to the inauguration of Cambiemos
."
The Labor Contract law assigns
three characteristics
to the minimum wage, vital and mobile.
It is the lowest remuneration that the worker without family charges should receive in cash for their working hours.
It must ensure
adequate food, decent housing, education, clothing, health care, transportation, recreation, vacations and social security coverage
.
And it must be adjusted periodically according to
variations in the cost of living
.
It is more than evident, and for a long time, that
the minimum wage does not fulfill these functions
and affects a large number of unregistered or informal workers who take that parameter as a reference, in labor agreements with low incomes and in formal workers " out of agreement ”.
It also
impacts the 760,000 beneficiaries of social plans
who receive
half the minimum wage
($ 10,294) as reported by the Minister of Social Development,
Daniel Arroyo
.
For a typical family (married couple and two children), the minimum wage is far from covering the value of the poverty basket, even if both spouses work.
Subtracting the retirement and health discounts (17%), plus the allowances for children, the total minimum wage income is around
24,000 pesos
compared to a family poverty basket valued by the INDEC in December at
$ 55,000.
And by legal definition, the minimum wage
should far exceed
the value of the family poverty basket.
For this reason, Artemio López concludes that "with the current Minimum Vital and Mobile Salary
it is only possible to access 40% of the value of the Basic Poverty Basket
for a metropolitan type household."