El salario mínimo en Honduras ¿mini o maxi salario mínimo?

Abstract

This study analyzes the dimension of minimum wage in Honduras for the 2002-2015 period by using the methodology proposed by Saget (2008), who relates the minimum wage with three different variables to build three indicators: GDP per capita, GDP per worker and average salary. We found that for the period 2002 to 2008 Honduras had a mini minimum wage, since the ratio between the minimum wage and GDP per capita (wmin/PIBpc) is less than 0.30. As of 2009, as result of the substantial increase in the minimum wage, an increase in the three indicators was observed. In particular, the indicator wmin/PIBpc was located in an intermediate zone, below the minimum maxi wage and above the mini minimum wage. We calculated the gap between the average wage for the whole country and the minimum wage. The main challenge faced was to have accurate statistics on the employed population. This study represents an application of the methodology of Saget (2008) in Honduras to measure the dimension of minimum wage.