What does a full-time worker cost at minimum?
A household hiring domestic help in Paraguay should separate three figures: gross salary, the worker's Instituto de Previsión Social (IPS) deduction and the employer's additional IPS contribution. From 1 July 2026 the general minimum wage for unspecified activities is Gs. 3,044,000 per month. Domestic work is tied to that general minimum-wage regime rather than a lower domestic-work floor.
Under the general IPS regime, the worker contributes 9% and the employer contributes 16.5%. At Gs. 3,044,000 that means Gs. 273,960 is withheld as the worker's share and the employer adds Gs. 502,260. The worker's 9% is not a second employer expense. The immediate monthly employer baseline is therefore:
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Gross salary | Gs. 3,044,000 |
| Employer IPS, 16.5% | Gs. 502,260 |
| Employer outlay before other obligations | Gs. 3,546,260 |
The worker's Gs. 273,960 contribution is withheld from salary, making the combined IPS transfer Gs. 776,220. The salary left after that IPS withholding is Gs. 2,770,040 if no other deductions apply.
The annual baseline: why twelve salaries are not the whole budget
The annual bonus, or aguinaldo, belongs in the employer's plan. MTESS calculates it from remuneration earned during the calendar year divided by twelve. If the employee works all twelve months at an unchanged Gs. 3,044,000, the aguinaldo is Gs. 3,044,000. IPS guidance excludes the aguinaldo from the contribution salary base.
That allows a useful, tightly defined baseline: twelve salaries, twelve employer IPS contributions and one aguinaldo. The result is Gs. 45,599,120 per year, or about Gs. 3,799,927 per month if the household reserves one-twelfth of the bonus each month. This is not a maximum cost. It excludes overtime, night or holiday premiums, family allowances, replacement labour during leave, termination-related amounts and other obligations that depend on the facts.
Paid annual leave should not be mistaken for a separate “14th monthly salary.” The right arises after one year of service; the statutory minimum is 12 days for up to five years of seniority, rising to 18 and then 30 days. Vacation pay is due in advance when the leave starts. For a continuously employed monthly worker, the annual model above already assumes 12 paid months; the household can nevertheless incur an extra operating cost if it hires replacement help during the absence.
Full time, part time and irregular hours are different arrangements
For daytime domestic work, the general maximum is eight hours a day or 48 hours a week. Paraguay's statutory part-time framework instead covers 16 to 32 hours a week and requires a written contract. An agreement above 32 weekly hours falls outside that part-time framework.
For part-time work, do not copy an old hourly figure from a static page. MTESS ties the minimum hourly calculation to the current minimum wage: monthly minimum divided by 26 and then by eight for daytime work. A further employer payment into the IPS health fund can also arise when part-time remuneration is below the general minimum wage. Part-time payroll is therefore not simply the full-time cost multiplied by a percentage of hours. Use the current MTESS part-time calculator with the actual weekly schedule before fixing the budget.
What the written agreement should contain
The contract is useful evidence, not merely paperwork. It should identify the parties, start date, workplace, duties, agreed schedule, remuneration, payment method, rest periods and, where relevant, whether the worker lives in the household. Duties deserve particular attention: cleaning, cooking, laundry, childcare, driving and gardening can create very different schedules and levels of responsibility.
If hours, duties or salary change on a continuing basis, update the written record. A contract that says 24 hours per week while the person routinely works 40 does not describe the real arrangement. A simple monthly time record is therefore far more useful than trying to reconstruct the relationship months later.
The employer file
- signed contract and amendments;
- IPS registration evidence and the relevant REI movements;
- monthly payslips or signed payment receipts;
- proof of IPS transfers;
- time, overtime and holiday-work records;
- leave and aguinaldo records;
- documentation of departure or termination.
This file does not decide a dispute by itself, but it makes the important facts auditable: what was agreed, how much work was performed, what was paid and which registrations were made.
A practical budgeting rule
For a full-time worker at the current minimum, a household can budget in two layers. Layer one is the current monthly payroll outlay of Gs. 3,546,260: gross salary plus employer IPS. Layer two is the reserve: at least one-twelfth of the expected aguinaldo should be set aside each month. Variable obligations and the worker's actual conditions come on top.
Part-time work requires a different sequence: agree the weekly hours, make the written contract, calculate the current minimum remuneration and any IPS health-fund complement under the MTESS rules, and then build the annual budget. That approach keeps the guide useful after the next wage adjustment: the method remains the same while the published parameters are updated.