Real wages have dropped more than eight percent in Venezuela (ILO, CEPAL)

[ChangoLoa]

While the government is not worried about increased unemployment this year, the preliminary results of a survey carried out by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (Eclac) and the International Labor Organization (ILO) show that the jobless rate in Venezuela is above the Latin American average.

Venezuela's unemployment rate stood at 9.2 percent in the first quarter of the year, while the jobless rate in the region was 7.4 percent. There were only two other countries that exceeded the average in the region during that period: Colombia (13.4 percent) and Peru (9.4% percent).

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The Eclac and the ILO also warned that real wages dropped more than eight percent in Venezuela in the first quarter, compared to the same period in 2010.



http://english.eluniversal.com/2011/06/15/unemployment-in-venezuela-among-the-highest-in-the-region.shtml

[naaman fletcher]

1. Dropped real wages

Crime through the roof, importing more food, blackouts. Can someone please explain to me how the people are better off?

[Bacchus39]

2. ummmm........no, really can't say but as long as he continues to bash the US

there will be people here who adore him.

[naaman fletcher]

3. I think it's the red shirt. nt.

[joshcryer]

4. Exactly. It's not about recognizing good social policies, it's about adoring US bashing.

[L Cutter]

6. Recognition

Really? You're advocating for US jingoism as a foundation of good social policy for those striving to shed the overweening, self-serving abuses of the US Colonial Overlords?

Jingoism is the antithesis to Liberty - on both sides of the border. It's a box that tyrants keep their tools in.

Well, at least the closet door's been kicked open.

[naaman fletcher]

9. nice rhetoric

now, can you please explain how falling real wages, increased crime, increased food imports, and endless blackouts is good for the people of venezuela?

[joshcryer]

12. No.

I merely think that a double standard is unnecessary and hypocritical. There are hundreds of negative articles every week about Latin American countries but the only ones posted are those which can be directly blamed on the US or are of countries that have friendly diplomatic relations with the US. Otherwise if a country that is not diplomatically friendly with the US, its problems are either a result of US policies or are minimized in order to deflect from the problems the policies in those countries create. This is systematic. Universal. When someone else comes along and posts a negative article about diplomatically unfriendly states, then that person is slandered a right wing "gusano" who hijacks threads and should be tombstoned (don't believe me, there are three topics slandering people on this forum).

I am fully educated on US interference in Latin America, and I denounce it when it happens. I think, for instance, if the US wanted Cuba to go "democratic" then it would be trivial, lift the embargo completely and there will be state owned casinos and resorts that USians and Europeans have come to expect in subordinate countries and the country would undergo reforms in a very very quick manner, particularly if the surge forced the internet to actually be distributed in Cuba (it's been months now but still no internet access for most Cubans despite that computer penetration is high and that clandestine wifi networks are everywhere).

Here's a clue that you might not get: every "gusano" on this forum is anti-USAID. As ex-CIA guys have said, USAID is what the CIA did privately, done publicly. It is not necessary and it fucks shit up because it's very easily used by tyrants as an Emmanuel Goldstein with which they propagandize their populations, and the results are hardly useful since the money tends to be funneled to corrupt groups anyway.

[L Cutter]

5. I can.

They're better off because the lies and spinnings of the desperate, out of power fascists, and their tools, do not have their desired effect on people who are enjoying the liberty and the vision of a better future brought to them by the Bolivarian Revolution.

[Judi Lynn]

7. L Cutter, it's great seeing your posts here. So glad to see your intelligent comments.

Sometimes bright people get drowned out by belligerent ones. That has been the case for a very long time.

It's the good ones people remember.

Welcome to D.U. :hi:

[naaman fletcher]

8. that sounds nice,

but how does "enjoying the liberty and vision of a better future" go along with dropped real wages and endless power blackouts? Wouldn't a better future mean higher real wages?

[Bacchus39]

10. don't forget the better future of out of control crime, corruption, and incompetence n/t

s

[joshcryer]

14. Prison population has doubled under Chavez.

[ChangoLoa]

11. Sounds like..

Some people merely stand behind a leader.

When the interests of that leader coincide with the people's interests, they talk plenty and loud to show their engagement for the defense of the small ones.

When the interests diverge or when the situation starts going wrong because of mis-policy, they warn the people that they have no other choice than to stand behind their Leader. Worse, they accuse the critical positions of being products of an evil conspiracy organized by an interior enemy.

From Weber to Arendt, this system of thought has been very well studied: "with or against us" is a false dilemma aiming at consolidating political control by a monolithic group.

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That being said, I'll explain why I'm critical on this evolution of the real wages.

In Venezuela, real wages are rapidly loosing ground. The country shows the worst results in the continent, according to ILO and ECLAC. We all understand this is because of high inflation.
But where does a 25-30% inflation come from and how does it act?

People who have studied economics know that high inflation is a very regressive form of taxation. The most regressive one, in fact. The government lowers the value of the money people have in their pockets or receive as a salary in order to increase its possibility of spending. Thus, it transfers the value from the people who earn it to the budget. Just like a tax. But a tax that doesn't distinguish between different levels of income. The burden of this type of tax is carried by the poorest. The less money you have and the harder it hits you.

Every year, Venezuelan workers lose 1/4 to 1/3 of the money they earn, without taking into count the normal taxes. There certainly is a compensation as we verify the periodic increases in the nominal salary they're receiving but, all in all, they're losing... they have lost 8% of their real wage in a year (which is a HELL OF A LOT by ANY standard: anyone daring to use the word "progressive" should be quite worried about such an evolution).

We could go a little further. If the remuneration of labor has decreased by 8% and the total value-added (GDP*) of the economy has been more or less stable in the last year, what should we conclude about the remuneration of capital during the same period?

*We know GDP = remuneration of labor + remuneration of capital + taxes on production + balance of payments


What kind of reversed socialism is that?

[joshcryer]

13. The lies like the blackouts are because of sabatoge?

The lies like PDVSA is in the black?

The spinnings of the desperate who believe it was OK for Chavez to get decree powers for yet another time (almost half his entire presidency) without debate after he lost considerable power?

Chavez is going to try to use state money to buy another election. It will probably work.