During last year, the Panamanian state spent $3.925 million in salaries to public officials, 8% more than what was reported in 2017, a rise that is explained by the year on year increases reported in the first months of 2018.
Figures from the General Comptroller of the Republic detail that between 2017 and 2018, spending on salaries for public employees increased $298 million, going from $3.627 million to $3.925 million.
The Panamanian government has spent $2.580 million in salaries for civil servants from January to August this year, 10% more than had been reported in the first eight months of 2017.
According to figures from the Office of the General Comptroller between January and August 2017 and the same period this year, the expenditure on salaries for civil servants increased by $241 million, from $2,339 million to $2,580 million.
Between January and June, the Panamanian State disbursed $1.915 billion in salaries to public officials, 12% more than the $1.708 billion reported in the first semester of 2017.
The Office of the Comptroller General of the Republic reported that the cumulative gross salary of the Public Sector payroll in June 2018 amounted to $333.3 million, of which $312.2 million corresponds to permanent officials and $21.1 million to interim staff.
The Panamanian State spends $321 million a month on salaries paid to public officials, well above the $209 million spent on this expense four years ago.
Monthly expenditure on public salaries has increased, especially during the Varela administration, as according to figures of the Ministry of Economy and Finance from March 2018, every month $113 million more is paid than in 2014.
The total amount disbursed by the government in payment of salaries up until October 2017 was $321 million, 18% more than in the same month in 2016.
According to a report by the Comptroller General of the Republic, a total of 233,111 posts were registered in October of last year, which are divided into 209,173 permanent and 23,938 contingent workers.By sector, 150,414 corresponded to the Central Government and 82,697 to the Decentralized Sector.
A savings fund, housing loans, expenses for recreation and bonuses, scholarships for children, and restaurant services for employees of the state and the monopolist hydrocarbons distributor of Costa Rica, are financed through the prices paid by consumers, even by the poorest.
The value of salaries for public employees increased by almost $80 million between June 2014 and April this year.
"...The payroll of employees in state institutions has not stopped growing in terms of number of employees and in salaries since 2014.Figures compiled by the Office of the Comptroller General of the Republic indicate that in June 2014, salary expenses were around $215 million, while in April this year the figure was $291 million."
One bright spring morning a garden flourished gloriously and everybody wanted flowers. John said "I deserve 10" and the gardener gave him 10 flowers. "I want to take 11" said Peter, and 11 were handed over to him. "I demand 12" protested Manuel, and he got 12. "I want 13" shouted Joseph, and he received his 13 flowers. A lot of people called out their demands and got what they asked for. In the end there was only one somewhat wilted flower left that was given to a mute person with no name. And the gardener was acclaimed for his generosity.
But the following spring the garden produced much fewer flowers, in spite of this, John tried to take his 10, Peter his 11, Manuel his 12 and Joseph his 13 flowers. "That is what corresponds to us," they shouted. "It is our right" they claimed. And they hired a lawyer who filed a lawsuit to force the gardener to deliver what belonged to them by "acquired right". And the judge, who was Manuel, ruled in favor of the plaintiffs.
In contrast to international doctrine on access to public information, a ruling by the Costa Rican Supreme Court has accepted as valid a crude duplicitous technique used to block data management required to a public institution.
EDITORIAL
The Constitutional Chamber of Costa Ricahas rejected an appealpresented by journalists working for the weekly newspaper El Financiero, thereby validating the use of passwords to prevent computer analysis of a database containing information on wages paid at the State Bank of Costa Rica. SeeConstitutional Court limits access to free public database (In Spanish).
Using its corporate power and taking advantage of the power vacuum that is afflicting the State, a public university in Costa Rica is paying first world salaries, exacerbating the inequality that exists between Costa Ricans and severely distorting the labor market.
EDITORIAL
The degeneration of democracy which is happening in a lot of Latin American countries has Costa Rica as an example, a country which historically used to be a shining example of the best way to live in society.
In Guatemala people are now suffering from the "labor agreements", which come from the same strain of virus as the "Collective agreements" which have made the State Costa Rica sick, distorting the labor market and generating inequality.
EDITORIAL
The editorial "Harmfulness of labor agreements in the public sector", published today on Elperiodico.com.gt, might have been written some years ago to describe Costa Rica. Guatemala still appears to have a chance to react to the disease, with proper medication. In Costa Rica, however, the disease is so widespread that major surgery is needed which today does not seem feasible, and the only thing left is to wait for the inevitable final crisis.
Between January and April this year, the state payroll increased by 11,161 people, mainly in the Social Security Department and the ministries of Education, Health and Finance.
The increase in staff also raises the total value of wages, which rose in monthly terms of $210 million when there were 194,855 employees to $227 million after an increase to 206,016 workers.
Trade unionists who promote it, the officials who estimate it, the rulers who decree it, are not part of the legion of unemployed who surely would work for less than the official minimum wage.
EDITORIAL
The unemployed have no voice, in principle because they do not pay a sindical fee, and if they did have one, they would not raise it, because it feels devoid of the dignity necessary to do so, because they are used to adopting a very humble position in job interviews. Nothing further impoverishes the human spirit that lack of gainful income of one form or another.
Differences have been reported of up to one thousand percent in the salaries of staff performing identical functions in state universities.
Editorial
A study by the deputy Otto Guevara, according to a report by Crhoy.com, confirms the distortion generated by the wage policy of the Costa Rican public sector in the labor market in the country.
Through remuneration systems that favor the stability of the employee and reward the simple continuity in a post beyond the adequacy with which tasks are executed, it is possible that even within the same institution one driver of a light vehicle can receive $300 a month, while another one earns $3,750.
There are concerns related to lack of definition in key areas and the Solis administration's true implementation capacity is being questioned.
The guild of private companies has also criticized the fact that they were not included in the development of the employment strategy to be presented in the next few days by President Solis.
For example, on the subject of electricity tariffs, Mario Montero, vice president of the Costa Rican Chamber of the Food Industry (Cacia), told Crhoy.com that "... 'there are now too many diagnoses and there are issues where political calculations should be left out of the picture, and the industry wants to participate in working groups' ... 'inaction is choking us and postponing decisions for 18 or 24 months is not acceptable.' "