President Abinader, with his new style of governance, has managed to create 22,000 formal jobs per month in the Dominican Republic since April 2021. One of the largest increases in Dominican history. Additionally, an unprecedented salary increase for Dominican workers.
The COVID-19 pandemic had a global impact on countries’ economies. Not only did the price of essential food items get affected, but the infection rate, lack of vaccines, and the limited knowledge of the virus forced countries to close their borders, tourism, and numerous businesses, from small and medium enterprises to self-employed workers. Additionally, there was a reduction in the turnover of large companies. The sum of all these phenomena led to an exponential increase in unemployment rates.
The Dominican Republic was not the only country in Latin America directly affected by the unemployment caused by the virus; rather, according to the International Labour Organization (ILO), Latin America and the Caribbean set a historic record of 41 million unemployed, with countries like Chile, Brazil, Mexico, and Colombia also being negatively impacted.
President Luis Abinader, with his new style of governance, is working to ensure that every citizen of the Dominican Republic has a job that allows them to meet their family’s needs. After the pandemic and the high number of unemployed people, restoring the labor market in the country was a challenge that needed to be addressed in the short term, since employment is a necessary means for families to obtain economic income for purchasing the necessary resources to survive.
Following Abinader’s persistent mission to recover the jobs lost due to the already mentioned reasons, during the year 2021, the Dominican president indicated that the labor market in the Dominican Republic showed significant improvement.
According to data from the Dominican Social Security system, by the end of last year, there were 2,166,578 employed workers (including both public and private sectors), representing an increase of 12.79% compared to 2020.
Furthermore, Abinader stated that by comparing the number of workers in 2021 with the pre-pandemic levels in 2019, there is an observed net increase of 53,874 workers, higher than the level of the aforementioned period.
The Dominican president declared that, concerning the improvement of citizens’ lives, since April 2021, 22,000 formal jobs per month have been created in the Dominican Republic according to the Social Security Treasury statistics. This represents one of the largest increases in Dominican history. Even so, the most significant union milestone of Luis Abinader’s new way of governing is the dignity of Dominican workers with the approval of an unprecedented salary increase.
Specifically, Abinader noted that, according to the resolution of the National Wage Committee, the national minimum wage for non-sectorized private sector workers was increased by a weighted average of 24%, and the minimum wage was increased by an average of 23% in the tourism sector, salaries were increased by 30% for all healthcare personnel, and a 21% increase was established compared to the national minimum wage for workers in the Dominican industrial free zones sector.
On February 27, in his address on the justification of accounts, President Abinader, with the transparency that distinguishes him, highlighted one of his most significant achievements. Specifically, at the beginning of this year, the civil pensions of more than 90,000 Dominicans were leveled, except for solidarity pensions which will be maintained but will also be increased in 2021.
The Dominican president emphasized that “these measures represent a great achievement for our government, as they improve the quality of life for a large portion of the most vulnerable sectors of our country.” Once again, the Dominican president has thought about the people.
