A person needs between 800 and 3,000 dollars a month to live “well” in Caracas, according to a group of Venezuelans consulted in different areas of the capital. The amount varies depending on the family group and whether or not there are housing rental expenses.
Eight hundred dollars a month is even a high figure that only a small part of the population in Venezuela earns per month.
“In my case, I would need $2,000,” says César Aellos, 57, who lives alone.
“To live well, well… like 800 dollars.”
They do not have a fixed salary. He is a free-practice lawyer and points out that there are months where he does not earn anything.
“You have to stipulate a rent between 400 and 600 dollars if you live alone and without children, 400 or 500 dollars in the market, living alone, then the vehicle, fun, and that’s where your money goes,” he breaks down.
“Between 1,500 and 2,000 dollars,” Carlos Rico continues while doing his math. “A normal rent is 500, 600 dollars. 300, 400 dollars of food. If you have children you also have to add school, which is transportation. Obviously there are no savings,” says this man who is a logger.
Amarylis Gómez, 61 years old, has an average monthly income of $300 between family help and the pension she receives for old age.
But he does not hesitate to affirm that it takes “more than $3,000” to live “well.” “I am not only including food expenses, but also expenses for doctors, health, dentists…” she adds. He lives with a 90-year-old woman.
“To live well, well… like 800 dollars,” responds after a pause Deyfer Fernández, 41, who is a secretary in a ministry and earn 4 dollars a month.
Fernández “survives” by selling cakes and doing odd jobs. She has her own home and, together with her husband, supports her two children.
“We have to get (money) from where we don’t have it,” says this woman who remains in the public administration while waiting for retirement.
“About 100 dollars a week,” says María López, who is a public employee. “To be able to buy what a home may need (…) food.”
In recent years, Venezuela has been hit by chronic inflation and the constant depreciation of the bolivar, the local currency, which has been displaced by an informal dollarization present in most commercial transactions.
The salary far from the numbers
The official minimum wage in the public sector, with a payroll of about 5.5 million workers, is 130 bolivars per month. The figure is barely equivalent to 3.5 dollars a month. A kilo of chicken, for example, today costs $3.88.
Workers also receive a food bonus of $40. Added to this is the so-called “Economic War Bonus” of $90.
None of the bonuses have any impact on the calculation of benefits or social benefits.
The average remuneration in the commerce and services sector of Caracas is located at 210 dollars per month, according to the latest measurement by the independent Venezuelan Observatory of Finance (OVF).
Low salaries in both public and private companies contrast with the cost of food and basic services.
According to the Center for Documentation and Social Analysis of the Venezuelan Federation of Teachers (Cendas-FVM), a family made up of five people needs $1,200 a month for food, transportation, education and public services.
“Have several activities that generate income (…) and what you do is adjust what you buy and what you consume, because not even with remittances or doing various jobs can you complete it.”
Only the food basket of 60 basic products stands at $554.26.
Economist and university professor Daniel Cadenas maintains that to overcome low salaries and the high cost of living, many families depend on remittances and other activities that generate extra income.
And “this is not only happening in the public sector, it is happening in the private sector, that is, carrying out various activities that generate income (…) and what is done is adjusting what is purchased and what is consumed, because simply not even with remittances or doing various jobs can it be completed,” says the expert.
After years of economic collapse and high inflation that led some 7 million people to leave Venezuela, there was a slight economic recovery, but it did not reduce the number of poor.
The national survey of Living Conditions (Encovi), published in March by the private Andrés Bello Catholic University, showed that 51.9% of the population was still in poverty last year.
The government constantly blames international sanctions for the loss of salary purchasing power.
President Nicolás Maduro, who is seeking re-election on July 28, has said that he expects the country to close 2024 with the lowest inflation in the last decade.
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