The Dominican middle class has been most affected by the present economic crisis. El Caribe newspaper reports that inflation has swallowed as much as 79% of the average wage earned. The highest ?minimum wage? that is paid in this country lost 52.2% of its purchasing power when compared to 2002 figures, in spite of an average 26.7% increase in that salary.
Recent inflation means that someone earning the highest monthly salary for a production line job (RD$17,278), according to the annual Study of Compensation and Benefits of the Overall Market by Ros Consulting, has lost RD$13,597 of their purchasing power. In the Fourth Study by Ros Consulting, which included 125 companies, a large proportion reported having received no salary increases as their companies awaited economic stabilization after the devaluation of the peso.
On Monday, Elena Viyella de Paliza, the president of CONEP, was asked about an overall increase in salaries and replied that in no way can salaries be increased across the board. While she was in agreement that minimum wages should be elevated, she said that negotiations with union leaders should take place in the National Committee on Salaries. At least one union leader felt that the CNS was a ?trap? because they only discussed the minimum wage with the understanding that the companies would use that as the basis for increases all along the different wage scales, as has been the custom in the past.
The Ros Study also revealed that pay raises being considered in the free zones, industries, financial and service sectors are said to be between 12.5% and 14%, far below the inflation rate of 42.7% in 2003 and 25.24% in the first quarter of this year. The business community opposes the proposal now in Congress for an overall wage increase law.