Agriculture and mining pulled ahead by a wide margin
En el Perú de mediados de 2021, los salarios del sector privado comenzaron a recuperar el terreno perdido durante la pandemia, con la agricultura y la minería liderando un repunte que habla tanto de la resiliencia de las economías extractivas como de la desigualdad estructural que persiste entre sectores. Los datos del Banco Central de Reserva, publicados en noviembre, revelan que el mercado laboral no se recupera como un todo uniforme, sino como un mosaico de velocidades distintas, donde algunos trabajadores ya superan sus ingresos prepandemia mientras otros aún no alcanzan ese umbral. La pregunta que subyace no es solo cuánto crecen los salarios, sino si ese crecimiento refleja una transformación duradera o una bonanza frágil atada a condiciones temporales.
- Los salarios del sector privado crecieron 5,1% en septiembre de 2021 frente a 2019, pero ese promedio oculta una brecha profunda: agricultura y minería avanzaron más de tres veces por encima del resto.
- La pesca quedó como la única excepción negativa, con trabajadores que aún ganan menos que antes de la pandemia, recordando que la recuperación no llega a todos por igual.
- El empleo público creció 10,7% frente a 2019, y la masa salarial total se expandió 8,3%, impulsada tanto por mejores ingresos como por la creación de nuevos puestos de trabajo.
- Desde abril de 2021, la tendencia salarial es sostenida, lo que sugiere una estabilización real del mercado laboral, aunque la pregunta sobre su durabilidad permanece abierta.
En septiembre de 2021, el Banco Central de Reserva del Perú publicó datos que mostraban una recuperación salarial en marcha: los trabajadores del sector privado ganaban en promedio 5,1% más que en el mismo mes de 2019, antes de que la pandemia trastocara la economía. Era el tercer mejor resultado del año, después de mayo y junio, cuando los incrementos habían superado el 6%.
Sin embargo, ese promedio escondía realidades muy distintas. La agricultura fue el sector más dinámico: los jornales agrícolas subieron 16,9% frente a 2019 y 22% respecto al año anterior, reflejo de una competencia creciente por mano de obra a medida que la demanda de alimentos se recuperaba. La minería siguió de cerca, con un alza de 17,6% frente al nivel prepandemia. Ambos sectores se convirtieron en los motores del repunte salarial, jalando hacia arriba los promedios generales.
El sector público también aportó al cuadro: los salarios de los trabajadores estatales crecieron 10,7% frente a 2019, superando el promedio privado. En conjunto, la masa salarial total —el dinero pagado a todos los trabajadores del país— se expandió 8,3%, impulsada por dos fuerzas simultáneas: más empleo y mejores ingresos por puesto.
La excepción fue la pesca, único sector donde los salarios seguían por debajo de los niveles prepandemia. Lo que los datos dibujaban era un mercado laboral en transición: el peor momento había quedado atrás, algunos sectores ya pagaban mejor que antes de la crisis, pero la recuperación seguía siendo desigual. La duda que persistía era si esas ganancias reflejaban un cambio estructural o simplemente condiciones favorables que podrían revertirse.
Peru's private sector workers saw their average wages climb 5.1% in September compared to the same month in 2019, before the pandemic upended the economy. The Central Reserve Bank, drawing on electronic payroll records, released the figure in mid-November, offering a snapshot of how far the labor market had recovered in the year and a half since lockdowns began.
September marked the third-strongest wage gain of 2021. Only May and June had performed better, when private sector earnings jumped 6.8% and 6.4% respectively against their 2019 baselines. The pattern suggested momentum—a steady climb back toward pre-crisis wage levels across most of the economy.
But the aggregate number masked a stark divide. Nearly every sector saw wages rise. Fishing was the sole exception, its workers still earning less than they had before the pandemic struck. Everywhere else, the recovery was underway, though at vastly different speeds.
Agriculture led the charge. Farm workers' average pay had surged 22% in September compared to the same month a year earlier, and 16.9% when measured against 2019. That two-digit jump reflected something fundamental: as the country reopened and food demand recovered, agricultural employers were forced to compete for labor. Mining followed a similar arc. Miners earned 9.4% more in September than they had in September 2020, and 17.6% more than in the pre-pandemic baseline of 2019. Both sectors had become magnets for wage growth, pulling ahead of the rest of the economy by a wide margin.
The public sector told its own story. Government workers' average compensation rose 10.7% in September versus 2019, outpacing the private sector average. When you combined public and private payrolls, the total wage mass—the sum of all money paid to all workers—had expanded 8.3% in September compared to the same month two years prior. That growth reflected two forces working in tandem: workers were earning more per job, and there were more jobs to fill.
The private sector wage bill alone grew 5.6% in September, continuing a recovery that had begun in April 2021. The central bank attributed the improvement to rising incomes across both public and private employment, and to the simple fact that more people were working. Agriculture and mining had been the primary engines, their outsized gains lifting the broader numbers.
What emerged from the data was a labor market in transition. The worst of the pandemic's employment shock had passed. Workers were returning to jobs, and in some sectors—those tied to commodity exports and food production—they were returning to better-paying positions than before. Yet the recovery remained uneven. Fishing remained depressed. Most sectors were still climbing back. And the question hanging over the figures was whether the gains would hold, or whether they reflected temporary conditions that might shift as the economy continued to adjust.
Citações Notáveis
The wage recovery has continued since April 2021, driven primarily by agriculture and mining sectors— Central Reserve Bank of Peru
A Conversa do Hearth Outra perspectiva sobre a história
Why did agriculture and mining pull so far ahead of other sectors?
Both are tied to global demand and commodity prices. When the world reopened and economies started buying again, Peru's mines and farms suddenly had customers willing to pay more. That demand pressure forced employers to raise wages to keep workers.
So it's not that these sectors were doing better than before the pandemic—it's that they recovered faster?
Partly. Agriculture was already essential work, so it never fully shut down. Mining had a rougher 2020, but by 2021 copper and other metals were in high demand. The wage jumps reflect both recovery and the leverage workers gained in a tight labor market.
The public sector grew faster than the private sector average. Is that unusual?
It suggests the government was making deliberate wage adjustments, possibly to retain workers or respond to inflation. The private sector was driven more by market forces—employers competing for scarce labor in hot sectors.
What about fishing? Why was it the only sector that didn't recover?
Fishing was already fragile before the pandemic. Overfishing, environmental pressures, and global competition had been squeezing it for years. The pandemic just accelerated a decline that was already underway. It didn't have the commodity tailwind that mining and agriculture enjoyed.
Does a 5.1% gain in private sector wages mean workers are actually better off?
Not necessarily. You'd need to know what inflation was doing. If prices rose faster than wages, workers lost ground even as their paychecks grew. The data shows nominal gains, not purchasing power.