By The Star Staff
According to the recent edition of the 2023 Jobs and Wages by Occupation survey, a product of a collaborative effort between the island Department of Labor and Human Resources (DTRH by its Spanish initials) and its federal counterpart, the average hourly wage increased to $16.40, while the median wage also increased to $12.09, DTRH Secretary Gabriel Maldonado González said Thursday.
The official said that for the year 2022, those figures stood at $15.54 and $11.29 per hour, respectively. The average annual salary for all occupations, meanwhile, increased to $34,120, while in 2022 it was $32,330.
“In line with the economic rebound that Puerto Rico is experiencing, tied to the lowest unemployment rate in history, the highest labor participation in over a decade and the highest level of employment in the last 15 years, this new publication also reflects that, on average, Puerto Ricans are earning more money than before,” Maldonado González said in a written statement. “When we compare the results of 2023 with the survey corresponding to the year 2021, we see an increase of 12% in the average wage and 11% in the median wage, which in addition to the aforementioned is also the product of two increases to the applicable minimum wage, currently at $9.50 per hour, while fierce competition persists between employers in all industries to attract and retain talent that motivates them to offer a better compensation and benefits package.”
At the industry level, virtually all economic sectors have experienced significant improvements in salary levels when compared to 2021, the DTRH chief noted.
“For example, construction increased by 16 percent, while manufacturing and the information sector increased by 11 percent and 20 percent, respectively,” he said. “This upward trend in wages, in turn, mitigates the impact of inflation that we experienced in recent years and that has been stabilizing recently.”
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