NATIONAL PLAN FOR WAGE EQUALITY FOR 2022-2025

29 Jun 2022

A press release by Ministry of Labour and Workforce Development of Panama

As a post-pandemic strategy for the economic reactivation of the country, representatives of Government, labour and employer sector, presented this Monday, April 25, 2022, the National Plan for Equal Pay 2022-2025 of the Republic of Panama, being the outcome of shared work between government entities with the technical support of UN Women and the International Labour Organization (ILO).

During the state of emergency caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the productive sector was affected at the national level, so the National Government activated dialogues through tripartite round tables, from which emerged proposals to strengthen formal employability, as well as economic support to families that had ceased to receive fixed incomes.

Another aspect relevant to salary payments is the gender salary gap, estimated at 11.5% in Panama, according to a UN Women study. This reality has prompted the proposal of strategies for gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls in the country.

The Minister of Labour and Labour Development, Doris Zapata Acevedo, said: “Today we have materialized the commitment to equality. For years we have heard the clamour of women demanding equal treatment, so from the National Government we took immediate action in this regard, leading by example from day one, opening spaces for the participation of women, as a way of recognizing the value and preparation of competent women to lead work structures and make decisions”.

At the presentation ceremony, the mechanisms for coordination, follow-up, monitoring and evaluation of the Plan were explained, which establishes what is necessary to ensure the correct development of functions, under the application of ILO Convention No. 100 on equal remuneration, ratified by Panama in 1958.

For the effectiveness of this Plan, the leading and collaborating entities will be differentiated for each of the measures, through the creation of Working Groups, as a governance mechanism that integrates all the actors.

The Ministry Labour and Workforce Development (MITRADEL), together with the Ministry of Social Development (MIDES) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic, jointly maintain programs and projects that contribute to wage equality, gender equality and women’s empowerment, such as the Gender Equality Seal Project for Private Enterprises.

On December 31, 2021, under the enactment of Executive Decree No. 74, the new minimum hourly wage rates were set, according to economic activity, occupation and size of companies, throughout the national territory according to region 1 and 2, which began to apply from January 16, 2022.