According to new data released by BBC Mundo, there are at least three countries in Latin America where the wage disparity is such that the employers earn nearly 10 times the wage of their employees. In 2017, senior managers in large companies in the Dominican Republic, Guatemala and Costa Rica were paid at least 10 times higher than new employees that had recently graduated from university.
The highest disparity ratio for wages was in the Dominican Republic (11.5). A high-level manager earns an average of US$145,885 a year, whereas an employee receives US$12,654, that is, 11.5 times less.
Other Latin American countries with high disparity are Guatemala (10.3) and Costa Rica (10.3). Ecuador, Peru and Colombia had disparity ratios of 9.1, 9.3 and 8.4 respectively.
Benjamin Frost, general manager of Reward Products of Korn Ferry, told BBC Mundo that these firms claim their hierarchical salary structure is on par with the “international market,” while those at the bottom of the ladder are paid “according to the cost of living” of each nation.
This is in contrast with “mature economies” where the ratio between the two salaries ranges between 2.5 and 4.5. In the United Kingdom, for example, it is 3.4, meaning that managers earn 3.4 times more than workers. In “semi emergent” economies, such as in most Latin American nations, the ratio falls somewhere between 5 and 10. Some fast-growing economies see their ratio at over 10. For instance, China’s ratio has reached 12.1.
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TeleSurTV
16 January 2018
