The wage structure in Paraguay shows profound inequality among salaried workers in the private sector, with informality and company size being determining factors. Data from Paraguay's Ministry of Labor, Employment, and Social Security (MTESS) reveals that 57% of informal workers earn less than the current legal minimum wage (SMLV). Only 21.9% of this category exceed this threshold.
The situation is equally critical in micro-enterprises, where 54.2% of salaried employees earn below the minimum. In this segment, only 27.1% have earnings above the SMLV. As the size of the company increases, the indicators improve significantly. In large companies, 70.9% of employees earn more than the minimum wage, and only 6.4% fall below it.
The contrast with formal employment is striking. In the formal private sector, 71% of salaried workers have remuneration above the minimum, while only 5.7% are below it. The numbers show that formalization is a crucial element for better earnings, going beyond simple labor protection.
The identified pattern shows that the best wage results are concentrated in larger companies and formal employment relationships. Micro-enterprises and informality appear as the areas of greatest vulnerability. For experts, the challenge for public policies goes beyond enforcing compliance with the minimum wage, requiring actions to increase productivity, facilitate formalization, and strengthen the economic capacity of smaller productive units.