Venezuela Raises Minimum Wage 3,000% Resulting In The Closure Of 40% Of Venezuelan Stores

Bloomberg: Venezuela raises minimum wage 3,000% and lots of workers get fired

Venezuelan workers who earned a pittance are now earning a slightly larger pittance, thanks to a big increase in the minimum wage. What they may not have are jobs.

Starting this week, 7 million employees are guaranteed 1,800 bolivars a month -- worth about $20 at the black-market rate. President Nicolas Maduro intended the mandate as political boost, but it’s having the opposite effect as companies, already hit by Venezuela’s epic economic contraction, tell workers they can’t afford to keep them.

While there have been many similar moves in the past, never has one been so disruptive, arriving amid hyperinflation, depression and devaluation. Some employers are restructuring costs, rejiggering pay scales and negotiating settlements with workers. Others are simply dismissing people. Much of the action happens secretively as companies try to avoid punishment by the government, which has been jailing those it believes are flouting the rules.

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Update: Maduro’s huge salary hike deals fatal blow to 40 percent of Venezuelan stores (Miami Herald)

WNU Editor: I do not think this 40% number is accurate. It will be closer to 100% withing the next month or two. Here is another example on how insane the situation has become .... Desperate for cash, Venezuela threatens to sue its neighbors (Miami Herald). For the past two years I have been saying that the situation can (and will) get worse. But now I am not sure. I see everything breaking down this winter, and from that there will be either a revolution, or Venezuela's neighbors making the decision that enough is enough, and will become involved in overthrowing this wretched socialist regime.

Update #2: May happen sooner than I think .... OAS chief says should not rule out Venezuela 'military intervention' (Digital Journal).