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Honduras Employment Indicators and Benefits
Honduran governments have set minimum wages since 1974,
but
enforcement has generally been lax. That laxity increased
at the
beginning of the 1980s. Traditionally, most Honduran
workers have
not been covered by social security, welfare, or minimum
wages.
Multinational companies usually paid more than the
standard minimum
wage, but, overall, the Honduran wage earner has
experienced a
diminution of real wages and purchasing ability for more
than a
decade. When they occurred, minimum wage adjustments
generally did
not keep up with cost of living increases. After a major
currency
devaluation in 1990, average Honduran workers were among
the most
poorly paid workers in the Western Hemisphere. By
contrast, the
banana companies paid relatively high wages as early as
the 1970s.
Banana workers continued at the top of the wage scale in
the 1990s;
however, in the 1980s, as banana production became less
laborintensive , the companies had decreased their investment
and work
force. Consequently, fewer workers were employed as
relatively
well-paid agricultural wage earners with related benefits.
President Callejas responded to the severe poverty by
implementing a specially financed Honduran Social
Investment Fund
(Fondo Hondureño de Inversión Social--FHIS) in 1990. The
fund
created public works programs such as road maintenance and
provided
United States surplus food to mothers and infants. Many
Hondurans
slipped through that fragile social safety net, however.
As a
continuing part of the social pact, and even more as the
result of
a fierce union-government battle, President Callejas
announced in
1991 a 27.8 percent increase over a minimum wage that the
government had earlier agreed upon. That increase was in
addition
to raises of 50 and 22 percent set, respectively, in
January and
September 1990. Despite those concessions, the minimum
daily rate
in 1991 was only US$1.75 for workers employed by small
agricultural
enterprises and US$3.15 for workers in the big exporting
concerns;
most workers did not earn the minimum wage.
Data as of December 1993
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