For every 400 dollars that a man earns on average in El Salvador, a woman receives 344 dollars for doing the same job, according to a Study published by the Organization of Salvadoran Women for Peace (ORMUSA) based on data from the government survey “Homes and Multiple Purposes”.
Of the ten occupational groups in which the average salary by sex was studied, eight report higher earnings for men. These include officials of the Executive and Legislative branches, professionals, scientists and intellectuals, technicians and mid-level professionals, among others.
In an interview with the Voice of AmericaCarmen Urquilla, coordinator of the ORMUSA Labor and Economic Justice program, assures that these situations could be corrected by improving the salary of women in the most precarious sectors of the economy.
Some of the occupational groups where women receive less money are “unskilled workers” and “operators”, where the average monthly salary for women is 214 dollars per month and 269 dollars per month, an amount even less than the average minimum wage which is around 365 dollars a month.
“In the country we have lacked employment policies that have a gender perspective. As long as there are no policies of this type, we will continue to see that the configuration of the Salvadoran labor market does not change, which, if we review it, is based on the sexual division of labor,” Urquilla explained to the newspaper. VOA.
According to him Labor Code of El Salvador“every worker, including the home-based worker, has the right to earn a minimum wage that sufficiently covers the normal needs of his or her home, in the material, moral and cultural order, which will be set periodically.”
The last increase in the minimum wage in El Salvador was approved in 2021. This process is studied by the National Minimum Wage Council, a government agency, whose resolution is made based on the opinion not only of the government area but also of the business sector. and the workers.
Salvadoran law establishes that the minimum wage must be reviewed at least every three years, and it must address the cost of living such as food, clothing, housing and education, among others.
Currently, the average cost of the basic basket in El Salvador is $250, which leaves little room to cover other essential needs. In addition, at least two legal discounts apply to base salaries in the formal sector, among them, social security and the pension quota.
According to him Better Jobs Index 2024, “Quality of employment in Latin America, between informality and salaries that are not enough”, from the Inter-American Development BankEl Salvador ranks 14th out of 17 with one of the lowest rankings regarding the quality of the work it offers.
In addition, women tend to have lower-quality jobs compared to men, according to the study. In this segment, El Salvador ranks 13th out of 17, with a wider gender gap than other countries in the Latin American region.
“We must also take a look at the labor sector that is in abandonment, I say this because there is an absence of public policies to regulate the informal sector, which is where the majority of women are in El Salvador, a characteristic that Latin America also shares” Urquilla added.
In 2021, the informal employment rate in El Salvador represented 69% of total employment in that country, according to the International Labour Organization (ILO).
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