Living Wage Update Report: Rural Ecuador, Southern Coastal Region (June 2021)

This report updates the living wage and living expenses for the Southern Coastal Zone of Ecuador. The net living wage and living expenses were updated to June 2021 to take into account the amount of inflation since the original study in November 2016. Without accounting for inflation, the net living wage estimated in 2016 might not be sufficient for workers to have a basic but decent standard of living in 2021 because the purchasing power of the living wage might have decreased. Similarly, living expenses for a reference size family were also updated to June 2021 to account for inflation. The gross living wage was updated to June 2021 by also taking into consideration income taxes and mandatory deductions from pay that workers would need to pay on the updated 2021 living wage. This is done using June 2021 laws. The mid-year estimate presented in this update report can be considered a proxy for the average living wage for the calendar year 2021.