Panamanians’ wage aspiration fell in December

The report on the labor market prepared by Konzerta for December shows that the planned average salary was at 996 USD, a decrease of 1.31 percent compared to November.

In the annual accumulation, it represents a drop of 4.53%, which is the lowest damage not only in the year but also since the report was made.

Men still strive for better pay than women. The average salary claimed by men was $1,017 per month, while the average salary for women was $938. The compensation requested by men is higher by 8.40% compared to women.

By category, the average salary for boss or supervisor positions was $1,368, with a slight increase of 0.39% compared to the month of November.

While for senior and semi-senior positions, it was $1018, a decrease of 2.05% compared to the previous month. For junior positions, it was 765 USD, 0.38% more than in November.

As for job advertisements, the 3 areas that prevailed were: commercial (29.83%); production, supply and logistics (21.43%) and administration and finance (20.97%). The most sought-after position is sales with a share of 13.87% in the total amount.

As for the December applications, the report shows that the commercial area received the highest 34.80% of the total, followed by the administrative area with 24.15%.

“Demand continues to lean towards commercial areas, especially in a month like December where mass consumption increases. Then there are areas of production, supply and logistics, where businessmen are looking forn workforce in key positions also in sales. Likewise, we can see that at the end of 2023, the positions with the highest salary sought by candidates were: project leadership, finance and programming,” said Jeff Morales, head of marketing for Konzert.

In the boss or supervisor segment, applications for the position of project manager have a maximum asking salary of $2,000. In the senior and semi-senior categories, finance applications record a maximum salary requirement of $1,500. At the junior level, program positions have a maximum required salary of $1,000.

The lowest planned salary according to length of service in the position of boss or superior is for a waiter with $650. In the senior or semi-senior category, the lowest expected salary is for a distribution position at $620, and for a junior maintenance and cleaning position at $600.

In December, there were more applications from women (53.36%) than men (46.64%).