The Cuban regime raised the national minimum wage from 2,100 to 3,210 pesos per month for more than a million workers in the budgeted sector, a 53% increase that took effect on July 1 but whose impact will not reach the pockets of workers until the August paycheck, according to the official Cubadebate.
The most striking aspect of the announcement was not the adjustment itself, but the explicit acknowledgment from its own officials: the new salary still isn’t enough to live on.
Guillermo Sarmiento, director of the Labor Organization at the Ministry of Labor and Social Security, acknowledged in a press conference that the 3,210 pesos "are still insufficient to cover the basic basket of goods and services," although he described the adjustment as "a great effort in a context where the economy is going through a complex situation."
The Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz was equally straightforward before the National Assembly: "It is still insufficient, but it is a first step based on real possibilities."
The measure covers workers in Health, Education, Culture, and Public Administration, who represent 51% of the country's workforce.
The vice minister Ariel Fonseca specified that "this is a salary increase for the budgeted sector, not a general salary reform," and clarified that this sector has not been able to receive the same transformations applied to state-owned enterprises.
The total cost of the measure exceeds 42 billion pesos annually for the state budget, and the salary scale is updated across its 32 groups: the highest increases from 9,510 to 14,535 pesos.
From now on, the minimum wage will be reviewed annually based on inflation, which will also affect pensions and social welfare benefits.
The gap between the new salary and the reality of the market is devastating. With the dollar trading between 660 and 695 pesos in the informal market, the 3,210 pesos amount to just 4.65 dollars a month.
The economist Javier Pérez Capdevila estimated that a person needs around 96,000 pesos a month to cover their basic needs in Cuba, about 30 times the new minimum, of which over 70,000 pesos are solely for food.
Prices in the informal market illustrate the magnitude of the problem: a pound of rice costs 360 pesos, black beans are 450 pesos, a liter of vegetable oil exceeds 1,800 pesos, and a carton of 30 eggs ranges between 3,000 and 4,000 pesos, an amount equal to or greater than the full minimum wage.
A basic weekly purchase can exceed 21,000 pesos, more than three times the new monthly minimum.
The salary of 2,100 pesos had remained frozen since January 2021, when the Tarea Ordenamiento was implemented. During that period, cumulative inflation rose by 206%, and the peso devaluated from 24 pesos per dollar to over 690 in the informal market, a depreciation of more than 95% over six years.
This pattern was repeated in September 2025, when the regime raised the minimum pension from 1,528 to 3,056 pesos for over 1.3 million retirees. By October of that year, that pension was worth less than nine dollars due to the accelerated devaluation of the peso.
The increase is part of the package of 176 economic and social transformations approved by the National Assembly on June 19, 2026.
The economist Pedro Monreal warned about the "nebulous" aspects of the package and cautioned that, without a clear focus on the most vulnerable, the measures could exacerbate inequality.
Meanwhile, Miguel Díaz-Canel defended the increase during a visit to the Municipal Defense Council of Havana del Este this Saturday.
The ruler stated that the increase in the minimum wage demonstrates that the country is promoting a "program of economic and social transformations that protects people in the most difficult situations."
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