Peru Minimum Wage Set to Rise to 1,300 Soles Under President Keiko Fujimori

The newly inaugurated administration in Peru has put economic policy at the forefront of its early agenda. During her first Mensaje a la Nación after assuming her oath as President of Peru, Keiko Fujimori unveiled a wide-ranging set of measures designed to reactivate income generators for households and invigorate the labor market.

Raising the Minimum Wage to 1,300 Soles

At the center of the administration’s initial economic announcements is a substantial adjustment to the country’s wage floor. The government plans to elevate the Remuneración Mínima Vital (RMV) to 1,300 soles. It is worth recalling that the current minimum wage was at 1,130 soles—an amount that was in effect starting from January 1, 2025, following a 105-sol increase established by Supreme Decree N° 006-2024-TR.

Keiko Fujimori, President of Peru, stated that to improve workers’ incomes, they would raise the minimum vital remuneration to 1,300 soles, adding that they want better salaries but also sustainable businesses and more formal jobs.

The head of state emphasized that the goal of this economic policy is not isolated, but rather points toward achieving an ecosystem where better salaries, sustainable businesses, and a greater quantity of formal jobs coexist across the national territory. Furthermore, elevating the remuneración mínima vital to S/ 1,300 would allow for the recovery of the purchasing power registered in 2020, according to information from the Central Reserve Bank (BCR).

Compensatory Bonuses and the Role of the National Labor Council

To cushion the financial impact that the measure represents for smaller-scale business sectors, the salary increase will be accompanied by a specific backing. The increase will come accompanied by a one-time compensatory bonus for micro and small enterprises, with the purpose of helping them incorporate workers into formality and responsibly face the higher labor cost.

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However, implementing the salary shift requires formal navigation through established tripartite channels. Juan Manuel Sheput Moore, Minister of Labor and Promotion of Employment (MTPE), stated that the announced increase to S/ 1,300 must be debated in the National Labor Council (CNT), a dialogue instance integrated by the Government, employers, and workers. The head of the MTPE maintained that the Executive will promote the treatment of the proposal through social dialogue and concertation.

In that sense, he highlighted that representatives of the business sector have expressed a “reasonable” position regarding the initiative and have coincided in that the salary increase must be discussed within the heart of the CNT before a definitive decision is adopted. Addressing the broader scope of labor reform, Minister Sheput noted during an interview with a local radio station that future labor reforms will be developed with a multidisciplinary approach and will be oriented toward confronting high labor informality, a problem he qualified as one of the principal challenges of the country.

Legislative Priorities and Empirical Policy Evaluation

As the government settles into its mandate, broader legislative initiatives remain subject to careful data collection and evaluation. The head of the MTPE maintained that the Government will recently initiate the process of evaluation of the matters that could form part of a eventual request for legislative powers from Congress, prioritizing themes like citizen security and actions against the El Niño phenomenon.

Juan Manuel Sheput Moore, Minister of Labor and Promotion of Employment, explained that they have to evaluate the impact and are still lacking information, noting that there is a political decision to keep things as they are because they are in a process of government settlement and want to work on the basis of empirical data and in a very serious manner.

Finally, the President ratified her commitment to offer stability, legal security, and clear rules to both national and foreign investors. In that line, it was advanced that unnecessary bureaucratic hurdles will be reduced and predictability will be returned to state decisions, under the premise that the greater the multiplication of investment, the greater the creation of companies, employment, and growth for the country.