Entrepreneurs grouped in the Costa Rican Union of Chambers and Associations of the Private Business Sector (UCCAEP) proposed an increase of 2.43% for all minimum wages of the private sector, to take effect from January 2018.
The approach presented to the National Wages Council is the result of the methodology accepted by representatives of the employer sector, the government and the unions in October 2011, which was revised and improved in October 2016.
Franco Arturo Pacheco, president of the group, explained that the wage setting is done annually and the adjustment formula is determined based on two components: the increase in the cost of living and the growth of the Gross Domestic Product per capita, called productivity adjustment.
According to the formula, the inflation adjustment for 2018 will be 1.64%, while the productivity adjustment component, which takes into account the average annual growth rate of the last three years of GDP per capita, will be 0.67% by 2018.
UCCAEP asked the National Wages Council to adhere to the formula’s result and to incorporate an additional one-time adjustment of 0.12%, for a total increase of 2.43% to minimum wages.