After five meetings without consensus at the National Minimum Wage Council (Conasam) since May, workers and business owners remain far apart on the definition of the legal minimum wage (SML) adjustment, which is set to take effect on July 1. The working class is demanding a 20% increase, equivalent to G. 647,021, while the business sector advocates for a correction based on the Consumer Price Index (IPC) from the Central Bank of Paraguay (BCP), which points to inflation of 2.4% — which would raise the floor from G. 2,899,048 to G. 2,968,625.
Bernardo Rojas, the workers' representative, stated that he expects President Santiago Peña to fulfill the promise of granting an adjustment above inflation. The president declared on June 4, before business leaders, that he is analyzing a "reasonable" amount for the increase, higher than the IPC variation.
The sixth tripartite meeting of Conasam is scheduled for this Wednesday and is expected to finalize the recommendation to be forwarded to the Executive Branch. The president has the prerogative to accept or reject the council's opinion through a decree.
Economist Jorge Garicoche, manager of the Economics Unit at consulting firm Mentu, assessed that there is no ideal formula for the adjustment. He acknowledged that workers are right to point out the rise in food prices in recent years, even with official inflation at a low level, but stressed that alternative indicators would also present distortions.
Garicoche drew attention to the structural problem of labor informality in the country: six out of ten Paraguayans work without formal registration. The economist warned that an adjustment well above the IPC could raise costs for employers and push workers from the formal sector into informality.