US embassy cable - 04TEGUCIGALPA811

UNCLAS TEGUCIGALPA 000811 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR DRL/IL, EB/TPP, WHA/PPC, AND WHA/CEN 
STATE PASS USTR FOR WCLATANOFF 
STATE PASS AID FOR LAC/CEN 
DOL FOR ILAB 
 
E.O. 12958:  N/A 
TAGS: ELAB, ECON, ETRD, PHUM, PGOV, HO 
SUBJECT:  Honduras Announces New Minimum Wage - Nine Percent 
Raise for Most Workers 
 
Ref: Tegucigalpa 560 
 
1. After long and contentious negotiations, on April 1, the 
Government, the private employers' association (COHEP), and 
the three labor confederations announced they had agreed upon 
a raise in the minimum wage effective immediately.  Unlike 
past years when the raise was backdated to January, this 
year's raise is not retroactive.  The revised daily minimum 
wage scale is broken down by sector and by size of business: 
small (1-15 workers) and large (16 or more workers).  The 
scale ranges from 54.7 lempiras (USD 3.04) per day for workers 
in small agriculture to 89.7 lempiras (USD 4.99) per day for 
workers in financial/insurance companies and workers in export- 
oriented businesses (including maquilas and certain commercial 
agriculture such as tobacco, coffee, bananas, and seafood). 
Workers in such areas as construction, services, mining, 
transportation, communication, etc. have minimum wages in 
between these two rates. 
 
2. The minimum wage scale in 2003 ranged from 48.85 lempiras 
to 82.3 lempiras per day.  This year's raise was approximately 
12 percent for workers in small agriculture, but approximately 
nine percent for most other workers.  Inflation was 
approximately 7.7 percent in 2003 according to the Central 
Bank. 
 
Palmer