Shortening working hours is almost impossible

Proposal to shorten the working week to four days, cdays for 10 hours a day and increasing the salary to one thousand dollars, would be almost impossible to achieve at this time in Panama, warned lawyer Rubén Castillo, an expert in labor law.

Castillo reminded that the Constitution is quite rigid on these issues because it mandates that there are already established restrictions. The proposal would involve modifying the Magna Carta, which is no easy task.

Likewise, the expert recalled that Panama has a highly centralized economy and is also highly dependent on the service economy.

“Panama’s service economy requires openness almost 7 days a week,” he told Nex Noticias.

For Castillo, the more serious issue is the promise of a salary of a thousand dollars, which would lead to the destruction of the business fabric of the country, made up mainly of small and medium-sized enterprises.

Before making a proposal of this kind, Castillo advises solving other problems facing the countrysuch as unemployment.

Although the reduction of working hours has been implemented in other latitudes, Castillo emphasizes that in the case of Panama, the main difference is that the economy must first diversify.

The lawyer pointed out that Panama is within the average working hours of the region, which is between 40 and 48 hours.

“In order to be able to implement something like this in Panama, we would first have to study in which economic sectors it can be carried out and which cannot,” he added.

On the other hand, economist Felipe Chapman emphasizes that the proposal must be analyzed in detail to determine its viability.

In this sense, he pointed out that elements such as the level of productivity must be examined and take into account that there are Panamanians who work six days a week.

As for the thousand dollars, he stated yes I personally have no problem with that.but as long as it is ensured that it does not create inflation, as is happening in the United States.

“We don’t want incentives that make it harder for people who are in the informal sector to move into the formal sector,” Chapman said.