The Rio Negro state authorities are collecting salaries for April, with increases set with different priorities and mechanisms.
All seeking that the established expenditures narrow the income gaps of public agents with price increases.
This distance deepened in the last year and, especially, since November and December with the escalation in the values of articles and services, which was recorded before and after the devaluation of the currency.
The erosion of purchasing power was general, although it is also true that some Powers and regimes lost less.
Interannual inflation (March 2023-March 204) ended at almost 288% while The average salary evolution of the state employees of Río Negro was around 174%.
The salary item increasingly concentrates provincial expenses. It reached 69% in the first quarter.
So, The average deterioration in the income of provincial employees is estimated at 42%, that is, their purchasing capacity fell by that percentage.
Even with this setback for personnel, the disbursements of the Rio Negro State go in the opposite direction, that is, this item concentrates the payments of the Province even more. By case, Discounting the financial debt, 69% of the expenditures in the first quarter fell on salary obligations. Possibly, this participation is higher with the April settlement, which establishes greater improvements than those of March.
The increase in the Personnel item between March 2023 and the same month of 2024 reached 174%. This record includes the entire provincial plant and its comparison is always the first measurement of the average evolution of salaries, despite the variations in employees that, currently, are not significant.
In the last four salaries collected, the Justice guideline maintained two central elements: increases with percentages and every month.
In the breakdown by Powers or organizations it appears that the damage of inflation was really uneven. All salaries lost in the face of price increases, but some were hurt more than others in that competition.
The uniformed men appear with less impact due to a particular situation for the sector. In January, a change was applied to the calculation of the unfavorable zone, which was now settled on the total of the concepts and no longer exclusively on the remuneration amounts. This modification responded to a correction imposed on the Executive due to unfavorable judicial rulings.
The Police departure had a year-on-year increase of 234%. This data is corroborated in the specific case of the initial salary in the force where the agent went from 175,000 pesos in March 2023 to 585,000 pesos in the same month of 2024. In his case, the detriment compared to inflation was around 20%.
The judicial ones appear in the second rank of those least affected, since their increases in the last year reached 204%.
In its negotiations, Sitrajur maintained two central characteristics for the moment: variations with percentages and during all months.
This continuity allowed the Judicial Branch to stand out from the other state branches, especially in the last four months, with patterns in December (5%), in January (almost 24%), in February (15%) and in March (12%), accumulating 67%. It is equivalent to the greatest alteration although, equally, lower than the 90% inflation process.
The March scheme concluded with increases of 45% in the salaries of the Legislature. Its mass grew by 43.8% in one month.
Sitrajur details that part of them are from 2023 agreements, beyond their impact on this year. A union claim to the STJ that is not received is that different increases be established, favoring lower salaries over higher salaries of officials and judges. The floor in the judicial system – initial clerk – was 656,000 pesos last March when it was almost 202,000 pesos last year, meaning 224% more. Above, the net earnings of the members of the STJ would be around 7 million pesos, differentiated between them by seniority and other concepts.
The monthly and percentage increases in Justice were the distinctive elements.
The rest of the provincial State personnel did not have improvements in December and then, in January and February they received bonuses. In March, mechanisms for increases were only put together, so, essentially, a takeoff appeared on the part of the legislatures.
The initial application of fixed sums generated a crushing in the salaries of the Legislature, which – traditionally – are among the highest in the State, together with the external control bodies that are in the same regime. Sneaking up, The legislative authorities and APEL incorporated several additions to their basics, which generated increases in March close to 45%. This modification is confirmed with the 43.8% increase in their salary bill, going from 1,108 million in February to 1,592 million in March. The average diet of legislators was above 2.5 million. This marked rebound repositioned legislative revenues and control bodies once again among the most favored.
- 90.18%
- It was the index from December to March. The interannual figure from March 2023 to the same month in 2024 was 287.9%.
In the Executive, the bonuses for January and February, and the fixed sums for March – with a minimum of 500,000 pesos – concentrated the improvements in lower salaries and relegated them to intermediate and higher salaries.
Thus, the initial remuneration for Law 1844 had an interannual increase of 260% (from 138,875 pesos to 500,000 pesos) and in the similar teacher it reached 204% (164,646 pesos to 500,000 pesos). Those year-on-year averages were 143% and 175%, respectively. As of March, the Health sector appears to be the most affected, with increases in the year of 128%.
Payments with bonuses and increases with fixed sums were characteristics of the first quarter in the Executive Branch, with a flattening of the salary pyramid.
The guaranteed minimums pushed the lower scales, with increases from 57% to 44% in the post-devaluation period compared to the inflation index of 90%.
The detriment of purchasing power for that December-March period was 22% to 30%. Greater damage was recorded in the remaining perceptions. For this reason, specific negotiations were opened for the hospital groups while Unter obtained another mechanism for increases in April, seeking to rebuild the salary pyramid and, consequently, improvements in intermediate and senior positions.
Income from senior positions
The disparity also reaches the assets of the authorities of the three Powers.
The top in Justice does not present any surprises and will continue like this as long as they keep their salaries linked to the joint negotiations that the STJ carries out with the union itself. Despite Sitrajur’s claim, the increases are uniform and do not favor the lowest over the highest, as the union requests. The increases reached 67% in the last quarter.
In March, legislators and Power authorities achieved a rebound with the inclusion of different concepts to their basic ones, after months of fixed amounts and flattening. In that liquidation they achieved increases of 45%.
Executive officials did not register increases in March although their salaries are linked to the teaching regime. There was an order that it not be liquidated momentarily. But, as it turned out, April settlements would have increases, based on the partial application of the teaching updating formula.
The actual damage to total resources
The real drop in resources is reflected in the main items, but the decrease is even nominal in transfers due to special laws, that is, those destined for specific policies. In that case, the amount for the first quarter of 2024 was directly lower than what was received in the same period of 2023, unlike the other shipments where the damage is deducted by the incidence of inflation in the elapsed period.
By “special laws”, 20,000 million expected for the January-March period, essentially destined for educational financing and other plans with national funds, did not enter Río Negro.
The remaining decreases are explained by the fact that the increases detected did not reach the inflationary index.
The royalty collection grew by 269% and the transfers for co-participation were at 265%, insufficient compared to the 288% inflation rate.
For its part, the first quarter of provincial tax collection concluded with a nominal increase of 206%, which also expresses a real drop. The Province received just over 80,000 million in the three months, but it should have been around 95,000 million if it had maintained the inflationary level. So, The own detriment was around 15,000 million, which is 19%.
This Rio Negro situation has its origin in the decline in economic activity and the tax impact in the provinces, such as Gross Income, which in Río Negro has a share of 80% of its total income.
Along the same lines, the record of the total resources of the Province for the period from January to March was almost 269,000 million. This availability represents 206% more than the same cycle last year.
On that occasion, Río Negro had received close to 88,000 million. This same amount -with its update for inflation- would mean just over 341,000 million. Thus, the real loss of income is 27%.
