Post by Benjamin on Nov 3, 2011 6:12:39 GMT -6
Maids in Costa Rica
The housekeeper who works in my house in San Jose, and has been the housekeeper
for my Tico lawyer and his entire family for 15 years, is paid 15.000 colones a
day. I pay the same as they do, a day is 8 hours. She is a goddess.
In a hotel the wages for a maid are probably around 9,000 colones a day, plus
tips. That being the legal established price. It is fair to pay more to someone
who works as more casual labor, and I do when it is "casual labor", here in the
campo it is usually around 10,000 to 12,000 colones a day. And if you really
like someone that has to use buses, i think it is fair to pay the bus.
Ticos do pay less, typically, here in the campo, they do not have the resources
that lawyers do in San Jose...In a weird way, Ticos who are typically younger
than many of us, have children, are not retired, need the services as much or
more than we do. It really is not fair to price them out of their ability to pay
for services they need more than many of us.
A lot of us do not have two working wage earners , making relatively low wages ,
most Tico families do. Many of us do not have a lot of children, many Ticos do.
Look at the cultural reality. It really is a shame that we price the Ticos out
of their own communities.
The real CCSS minimum wage for a domestic employee, today, on the official
documents is 135,270.67. That is a monthly salary, probably based on 48 hours a
week, which is the standard here. A "manager of maids" has a monthly salary of
228,000 working in a company. Officila CCSS data.
Hope that data helps. Sorry if it comes with a bit of a soapbox, I just hear
this a lot from my Tico friends, that here in Quepos they have a hardr time
affording housekeepers and babysitters because the prices are affected by what
we pay. And honestly, I do clean my own place, cook my own food, here in Quepos
not because I am cheap, but because I LIKE to :-)
Hugs,
Robbie
The housekeeper who works in my house in San Jose, and has been the housekeeper
for my Tico lawyer and his entire family for 15 years, is paid 15.000 colones a
day. I pay the same as they do, a day is 8 hours. She is a goddess.
In a hotel the wages for a maid are probably around 9,000 colones a day, plus
tips. That being the legal established price. It is fair to pay more to someone
who works as more casual labor, and I do when it is "casual labor", here in the
campo it is usually around 10,000 to 12,000 colones a day. And if you really
like someone that has to use buses, i think it is fair to pay the bus.
Ticos do pay less, typically, here in the campo, they do not have the resources
that lawyers do in San Jose...In a weird way, Ticos who are typically younger
than many of us, have children, are not retired, need the services as much or
more than we do. It really is not fair to price them out of their ability to pay
for services they need more than many of us.
A lot of us do not have two working wage earners , making relatively low wages ,
most Tico families do. Many of us do not have a lot of children, many Ticos do.
Look at the cultural reality. It really is a shame that we price the Ticos out
of their own communities.
The real CCSS minimum wage for a domestic employee, today, on the official
documents is 135,270.67. That is a monthly salary, probably based on 48 hours a
week, which is the standard here. A "manager of maids" has a monthly salary of
228,000 working in a company. Officila CCSS data.
Hope that data helps. Sorry if it comes with a bit of a soapbox, I just hear
this a lot from my Tico friends, that here in Quepos they have a hardr time
affording housekeepers and babysitters because the prices are affected by what
we pay. And honestly, I do clean my own place, cook my own food, here in Quepos
not because I am cheap, but because I LIKE to :-)
Hugs,
Robbie
