According to figures from the Ministry of Labor and Labor Development (Mitradel), the state of emergency caused by the coronavirus health crisis has impacted 110,400 workers, whose contracts have been temporarily suspended. This list includes 16,398 contracts from the construction sector and related industries, where it is estimated that there are a total of 190,000 workers.

However, "there are 30% of files still to be reviewed," says a spokesman for Mitradel. This means that the number of temporarily suspended contracts could rise to 143,520 in the coming days.

The measure of suspension of contracts has been applied by 6,389 private sector companies, which have seen their income paralyzed in the midst of the crisis and the commercial closure of almost the entire country, due to Covid-19.

The Executive Decree was announced on March 20, which establishes the bases to temporarily suspend the effects of the employment contracts of companies affected by the pandemic, as a way of protecting jobs until the state of emergency is lifted.

The workers would be helped by the social support programs dictated by the State. However, according to Mitradel sources, not all workers whose contracts have been suspended have entered the list of beneficiaries of the digital voucher contemplated in the Panama Solidarity plan. "They are entering little by little after the debugging," he said.

To guarantee that the economic relief of the State reaches everyone equally, a series of rules has been established.

Retired and pensioned workers, workers without a Panamanian identity card (passport users) and workers who are beneficiaries of any other social assistance project of the Government granted by the Ministry of Social Development (Mides) or the National Secretariat are excluded from the benefits of the Panama Solidarity plan.

Also excluded from receiving the benefit of the first phase of the digital voucher are workers whose place of residence, registered with the Electoral Court, does not have participating supermarket chains nearby.

"Suspended workers who fall in this category will be beneficiaries of the other aid projects within the plan," says Mitradel.

The measure also limits workers whose data has been sent with an involuntary error in the identification number or name.

"Those who have not been included in this first phase of the digital voucher will be included in the next installments as the procedures at the Mitradel are processed."

Meanwhile, several unions in the country have warned that their workers do not appear on the list of any of the aid from the Panama Solidarity plan.

The vast majority of the 450 restaurants grouped in the Association of Restaurants and Related of Panama (ARAP), has said that its staff does not appear on the list of beneficiaries of the Panama Solidarity plan, says Domingo de Obaldía, president of the union.

"We have been sending the list (of those affected) to the Ministry of Labor and the Presidency of the Republic and still our staff does not appear. That is worrying, because there are many restaurants that will not be able to help their collaborators by May 15, and if that happens and also the collaborators are not receiving the benefits of the Panama Solidarity plan, there will be chaos, "warned the president of ARAP.

Key sectors

190 thousand people work in the construction sector. More than 16,000 of them have had their contracts suspended, according to Mitradel statistics.

38,000 restaurant industry workers have had their contracts suspended, according to ARAP figures.