Ecuador Forum

boncur
Joined 2009
Posts: 1180

13 years ago

International Living

13 years ago

International Living just wrote in today's missive:

"Absolutely—for that amount, you get pampered luxury. You can live very well on $1,500 a month (that includes employing three staff). We know people who are doing it (read their story here). In fact, you can live well on far less (that link has details of those examples, too)."

Now that just doesn't make sense to me! The legal minimum wage per full time employee is $240 per month, plus $20 for the social security 'reserve funds' (which are in essence a full month's wage per person, per year), AND the monthly affiliation with social security (which is STRICTLY enforced) would be another $65 a mo. The law says that you can make the employee pay a third of that--some do and some don't. THEN there are 2 week paid vacations, two extra months' of salary called Sobre Sueldos (they work 12 months, get paid for 14)...there are a few other small things...you must feed them every day and the law says if they live within a certain distance away, you must pay transportation. The labor laws here in Ecuador always favor the employee and are always not in favor of the employer, especially if he is a gringo. Be careful when hiring because these people know that there are vampire lawyers out there waiting, laying low, until they can come in for the kill in a "Labor Case"--and they will take over 50% to handle it, more for their benefit then the benefit of the supposed ill-treated employee. Some of these lawyers actually go out and approach people working for gringos, to see if there is a case and then convince the poor employee to go along with it.

So if you "hire 3 staff" as IL says, you are now paying about $780 and up... and that is not including Social Security for the employees. You must do all of this for Part-time employees as well but the costs are lower. So that leaves you less than $700 or so to live here "in pampered luxury"--I personally do not agree with that, especially if you have to pay rent, get around and eat. And of course, as has been discussed previously, these costs can vary according to how we each live.

Consistently, International Living "stretches" the truth in almost all cases presented! I personally don't like this 'always having to read between the lines.'

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Help others in Ecuador by answering questions about the challenges and adventures of living in Ecuador.