Peru's Growing Holiday Calendar: Ranking Among Countries with the Most Rest Days

2023-07-09 19:07:13

Peru continues to add more holidays to its calendar, which is why it is already in the top 10 countries with the most rest days in the world (holidays and vacations), without also counting non-working days in the public sector, allowed as luck would have it. to encourage domestic tourism.

This, without considering -or- the days of regional or provincial holidays (such as June 24 for the day of San Juan in the jungle), says labor lawyer Jorge Toyama.

On July 8, the law that creates the holiday on July 23 of each year was made official. Why? For the commemoration of the heroic sacrifice of Captain FAP José Abelardo Quiñones Gonzáles.

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This is the second holiday that is created during 2023, previously -in June- June 7 was made official as a national holiday for the Battle of Arica and Flag Day.

Thus, there are already 16 holidays a year that, adding the 30 days of vacation for the General Labor Regime, Peru has a total of 46 paid ‘free’ days.

We are practically only after Iran, which has 53 days off: 27 for vacations and 26 for holidays, mostly related to religion. And we tie with the island of San Marino, which also has 46 days. Followed by Yemen (45 days). Andorra (44 days), Bhutan (44 days), Bahrain (44 days), Togo (43 days), Niger (43 days), Madagascar (43 days) and Monaco (42 days).

And if we only consider the Latin American countries with the most holidays (not counting vacations), the ranking goes like this: Argentina with a total of 19, Colombia with 18 days. Then there are Puerto Rico and Chile (17 each), third there is also a tie between Bolivia and Peru with 16; while Mexico, Brazil and Venezuela count between 13 and 14 days.

Elaboration Management with information from the MEF.

The Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) in Peru warned last May that non-working days have increased cumulatively by 25% in just 2 years, increasing from 12 to 16 holidays (in 2021 it was included on the 9th of December and in 2022 to August 6 as holidays), constituting “a trend that exacerbates the limitations of the country to attract investment and increase formal employment.”

Along these lines, he had already warned that a new holiday implies a significant impact on the productivity of formal companies with a potential cumulative effect on national production of more than 4% of annual GDP (16 of 365 days a year).

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Labor Impact

According to Toyama, companies that operate on holidays (such as factories, agriculture, mining, construction, commerce, and services) must double pay their workers who agree to work. It is estimated that 4 out of 5 do not operate a holiday due to the labor cost it represents.

“If it is not operated, there is no income. Informal workers also do not receive a salary if they do not work. If an independent does not work, he does not have an income either. Only entertainment activities could benefit in part, ”she indicates.

The Esan teacher, Jorge Guillén, had already indicated to Gestión, in a previous article, that creating one more holiday in Peru implies an additional labor cost of 10% to 15% more per month in a mype company. “The figure rises if it is a large company,” he says.