The director of Migration, Carlos Amarante Baret said that 95% of the jobs in the construction and agriculture sector are held by Haitians. He said that employers have favored illegal Haitian workers because on many occasions they do not have to pay them the benefits they would have to pay Dominican nationals. Interviewed by a group of young people at Hoy newspaper, Amarante Baret said that in addition, Dominicans have to compete for jobs with a large number of illegal Cubans, Europeans, Chinese, Central Americans and South Americans who have migrated to the DR.
Amarante pointed out that the Dominican Labor Code establishes that no single company can have more than 20% foreign nationals in its labor force. Furthermore, the Labor Code establishes that wages received by the 80% Dominican share of the work force of a company need to account for at least 80% of all the wages paid in the company.
The penalty for the violation of these measures is minimal though, from seven to 12 minimum wages.