Business owners, workers and the Government are close to starting negotiations to adjust the minimum wage in 2025. In 2024, the increase was 12.7%, placing the remuneration at $1,300,000. However, projections for next year point to a lower increase, since annual inflation is expected to close at 5.5%, serving as a basis for negotiation.
Camilo Herrera Mora, founder of Raddar, pointed out that the minimum wage panorama faces significant challenges, since only 18% of the employed population is linked to this indicator due to high labor informality. Herrera anticipates an increase between 7% and 8%, considering that not all salaries are adjusted uniformly.
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For his part, the Minister of Finance, Ricardo Bonilla, indicated that the legal parameters will be respected and that the minimum wage will be adjusted according to inflation. Although there are still no concrete figures, other experts, such as Wilson Rodríguez Gómez, professor in the Department of Finance at the University of La Sabana, agree that the increase will be less than double digits.
The adjustment of the minimum wage is based on two variables: inflation and productivity. Inflation is expected to be slightly above 5%, while productivity, a more complex measurement factor, often generates discrepancies between employers and workers. According to Rodríguez Gómez, the productivity figures reported by employers are generally low, while workers maintain that their increases have not been recognized in recent years.
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Rodríguez added that the National Administrative Department of Statistics (DANE) usually delivers productivity figures in the final phases of the negotiation, and although he anticipates that the increase could be close to 7%, he warned that the behavior of inflation in the coming months It will be decisive, especially in the face of possible fluctuations in the dollar.