Venezuela’s interim president, Delcy Rodríguez, announced on Thursday that the minimum monthly income will increase to US$240, while pensions will rise to US$70, amid protests by employees demanding higher salaries to face triple-digit inflation.
The monthly minimum wage amounts to just a few cents in dollar terms, although workers receive bonuses that the government says raise their income to as much as $190 a month.
“When I see workers protesting, I think, ‘They’re right!’ We want better wages for workers. We want to fully restore what salaries should represent. Of course. This is the first step to guaranteeing the purchasing power of workers across the country,” Rodríguez said at a march calling for an end to US sanctions, which she said would help increase foreign investment and boost the economy.
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Rodríguez did not detail how much of the new $240 will come from minimum wage and how much will come from bonuses.
“I also want to inform you that our elderly people — our grandfathers and grandmothers, those who were hardest hit — will receive a pension equivalent to US$70, which represents a 40% increase. This is not enough. It is not enough,” he said, adding that other measures for the elderly will be examined.
The last increase in the base salary and pay scale for public sector workers was in March 2022. Since then, the devaluation of the bolivar, the local currency, has raised the cost of bonuses to around US$400 million in April, up from around US$250 million in December, according to economic consultancies in Caracas.
Following the capture of President Nicolás Maduro and his wife by US forces in January, government supporters in several states reported that some bonuses were no longer paid, which helped fuel discontent and even defections from the socialist party.
Annual inflation was 649% in March, according to central bank data.
Protests by workers in sectors such as education, health and public services have become more frequent since Maduro’s capture, as oil deals with the United States bring hundreds of millions of dollars into government coffers.
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A planned union march in Caracas to demand better wages was prevented from taking place this Thursday by the presence of police and crowds participating in a government-led demonstration.
The public sector employs more than 3 million people, while retirees number around 5 million, according to official data.
