Santo Domingo – A report on the public policies applied in different institutions and productive sectors of the country shows progress. Still, it indicates that reducing the gender gap in labor income persists because it grew from 9.0% in 2022 to 9.4% in 2023.
“This means that, on average, women earn 9.4% less than men, underscoring the urgent need for policies to promote equal pay and address these disparities,” reveals the Annual Monitoring Report of the National Multi-Year Public Sector Plan, prepared by the Ministry of Economy, Planning and Development (Mepyd).
It points out that last year, the continuous recovery of formal employment indicators and the increase in average real hourly income stood out, which reached RD$110.6, 10% more than in 2022, whose increase exceeds the increase in the consumer price index, which rose by 4.8% from 118.67 to 124.34.
This indicates that real wages grew slightly more than the cost of living, but despite the increase in the average real wage, the challenge of reducing the gender gap in labor income remains.
According to the report, the areas in which policies advanced were priority areas such as corruption and impunity, first highlighting the importance of combating them, followed by essential issues such as sports, foreign policy, formal employment, and housing. Citizen security, youth, education, tourism, and social security are also included.
Formal employment shows significant progress, “although there is still a need to promote the transfer of workers from the informal to the formal sector,” it says. The percentage of formal employment reached
49.2%, with 2,260,599 formal employees, an increase of 97,169 in 2023 compared to 2022 and 9,356 compared to 2019. This increase exceeds the growth of informal employment in recent years. In this context, the unemployment rate continued its decline, standing at 11.5% in 2023, which represents a reduction of 23% compared to 2020 and 1.5% compared to 2022.
Mientras que la participación femenina en el mercado laboral mostró un notable desempeño, alcanzando un 54.3% de actividad ampliada y una tasa global de participación de 52.6%, la más alta en años recientes, dice el documento.
En cuanto al porcentaje de los Ninis, jóvenes de 15 a 24 años que ni estudian ni trabajan, disminuyó de 21.2% en 2022 a 20.5% en 2023, manteniendo la tendencia a la baja desde 2021.
Sobre la política de acceso a la seguridad social, observa avances significativos, como un aumento del 3.53% en el porcentaje de la población de 60 años y más que está pensionada y afiliada al seguro de salud, alcanzando un 95.44% de cobertura.
This implies the inclusion of approximately 50,000 people in social security. The percentage of self-employed workers affiliated with the Family Health System (SFS) also increased to 65.77%, an annual increase of 2.56%, which indicates a strengthening of the social security system.
In addition, the average monthly income of pensioners aged 60 and over rose to RD$ 16,941.26 in 2023. However, this amount is still insufficient to cover the cost of the basic basket in Quintile 1, which is Indicators
MSMEs top the list, followed by culture, sports, tourism, and housing, highlighting their importance for the economy, identity, public health, and quality of life.
The fight against corruption and impunity, social security, the creation of opportunities, water management, and mining are also evaluated.