Peru's Labor Minister Juan Sheput said the planned increase in the minimum wage to 1,300 soles will take place during this semester, describing it as a presidential commitment. The increase was announced weeks earlier by President Keiko Fujimori.
Sheput said the timing still depends on coordination with Economy Minister Elmer Cuba, who controls the budget capacity needed to carry out the plan.
Speaking to Canal N, Sheput said it had been announced that the raise would come in two stages. He said business owners were concerned about the timing and would prefer it take place after the El Nino weather phenomenon has passed. He said the government had already made clear that there is a presidential commitment to carry it out this semester, and that the details still needed to be worked out with Cuba, who has the budgetary authority to do so.
Missed committee appearance
Sheput also apologized for not attending the Labor Committee session in Peru's Chamber of Deputies, where he had been expected to present his sector's requests as part of the executive branch's request for legislative powers.
He said he had prioritized attending the Constitution Committee instead, since that is the committee responsible for approving or rejecting the delegation of powers. He said he does not have the gift of being in two places at once, and could not be in two committees at the same hour. He added that missing the Labor Committee session did not mean he would not attend at all, since he still intended to present the points of the request there.
A shift from Fujimori's campaign stance
The government's announcement marks a change from the position Fujimori held during her presidential campaign, when as a candidate she rejected raising the minimum wage to 1,500 soles, a proposal put forward by the Juntos por el Peru party. At the time, she argued that a change of that scale needed to be based on economic criteria rather than campaign promises.
Fujimori had criticized wage increases used as a way to build political support and said any change to the minimum wage should be phased in gradually and responsibly. She also said adjustments should be tied to economic performance and productivity levels. The current announcement reopens the debate over what criteria should determine when the minimum wage should rise.
Technical backing for the S/1,300 figure
Former Deputy Minister of Employment Fernando Cuadros said the announced increase has technical grounding. He told La Republica that if the criteria set by the National Labor Council, which factor in inflation and productivity, had been applied consistently since 2007, the minimum wage today would already exceed the proposed amount. He estimated the minimum wage should be closer to 1,400 soles and said the proposed 1,300 soles falls within a technically justifiable range.
