Waiting for the announcements from the Minister of Economy, Sergio Massato relieve the pocket and alleviate the economic situation that worsened after the PASO and the 22 percent devaluation, economists and trade unionists close to the ruling party project that the government should advance in the payment of a fixed sum to registered workers ranging from 60 to 75 thousand pesos to stop the fall in real wages and recover the purchasing power lost in the last eight years.
The lump sum debate
The discussion for the payment of a fixed sum has been around for a long time in the Government of Alberto Fernandez. The issue was publicly reflected for the first time at the end of 2020, when activity began to return to normal in the midst of the Covid pandemic. In an act led by the President, Cristina Kirchner and Massa In La Plata, the vice president herself insisted that progress should be made in a fairer redistribution of income and recompose salaries and pensions.
The insistence of a sector of the ruling party for the payment of a fixed sum continued. The vice president was emphatic on several occasions. “A fixed sum is needed to give the salary capacity again ”, claimed a little less than a year ago. Since then, the main concern of
Christina It is the direction of the economy. The proposal never came to fruition: the Minister of Labor, Kelly Olmossaid on several occasions that a fixed sum would collide with parity and with the claim of a sector of trade unionism.
Now, with inflation accumulated in the first seven months of 2023 that exceeds 60 percent and after the subsequent 22 percent devaluation of the PASO, Massa himself said that there would be a fixed sum. Although the details are not yet known, economists and trade unionists close to the government suggest that it cannot be less than 60,000 pesos to recover the purchasing power that workers in the formal sector have lost in recent years.
Fixed sum: how much money it should be
Hugo Yaskyleader of the CTA – Autónoma, told Page|12 which should be $75,000 to recover the impact suffered by wage earners due to the devaluation of August 14, but also to “Raise the salary floor and continue with the parities”. The deputy for the Frente de Todos also said that it would have a positive effect because it targets millions of workers who are below the poverty line.
“It does not mean that joint discussions are closed. Quite the opposite. When Néstor Kirchner decided to resort to the fixed sum, he produced an injection that motorized the parities, it is an extraordinary resource for an extraordinary situation like the one we are going through,» stated Yasky, who indicated that the fixed sum must be the same for all salaries, without import salary. «It can’t be a symbolic sum,» he argued.
According to data from the Center for Research and Training of the Argentine Republic (CIFRA), belonging to the CTA, in the last eight years wages have lost 22 percent for the private sector, while the Minimum, Vital, and Mobile Wage has fallen 30 percent. points.
For his part, the economist Federico Zirulnikfrom the Scalabrini Ortiz Study Center (Cessation), believes that to restore the average salary of the registered sector to the values of December 2019, a fixed sum of between $60 and $70 thousandalthough without considering the inflation data for August, which private consultants are already projecting above 10 percent.
«It is important the lump sum paymentbecause on the one hand it helps to rebuild real income and on the other it has a progressive impact on wages, it impacts the lowest wages proportionally more,” Zirulnik analyzed in dialogue with this medium.
Where to put the cap, the question of the fixed sum
The other discussion is whether it will have a cap or if the fixed amount will be the same for all salaries. «One option could be to set the ceiling at the minimum non-taxable income tax,» he said. zirulnik, although he cautioned that he does not think it can be that high. Today that figure is $700,875 of gross salary. “In February 2020 we had a concrete example – with the payment of a sum of $4,000 –and the data shows that the result was positive,” he added.
For Letcher, it could be perceived by the total universe of wage workers, which would make it possible to equate the distribution between capital and labor. “The fixed sum would help raise salaries that generally have less margin
for peer discussion. It could be a useful tool in this context,” he noted.