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Cuba: Cost of Living
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Written by Julián Gutiérrez Photos by Cindy O'Hara
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What are the wages in Cuba? What is the cost of living? These are topics that are often used by our enemies to attack us. They even confuse many friends and even Cubans that live in Cuba, who repeat without thinking that their wage is between $10 and $20 USD.
Of course the topic is very complex and I do not seek to exhaust everything that one could say about it. I would like you to analyze what I explain here and let's establish an exchange where you give your perspectives and bring up the doubts that you still have.
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BASIC CONSIDERATIONS
First I want to establish some economic concepts. To be able to analyze the financial situation of any person, family and even country, We cannot just take into consideration the nominal value of the capital that they possess, but also the purchasing power of that capital. Applying this concept to a person, it means that the important thing is not the nominal value of that person's capital (wage), but rather the purchasing power that this capital has. An example of this can be seen in the following: A person that lives in New York or in Tokyo, Japan (two of the most expensive cities in the world), if he receives a monthly wage of $1500.00 USD he could not live; but if he lived in La Paz, Bolivia or Port-au-Prince, Haiti he would have an ample situation. That is to say that the $1500.00 USD would have a bigger purchasing power in La Paz or Port-au-Prince that in New York or Tokyo.
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What will these workers' wages buy?
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The second question that I want to look at is: What are the expenses that most impact the wages of the people in the countries that We are comparing? : 1. -Housing. - That covers in most cases around half of the wages. 2. - Food. 3. - Education. 4. - Public health. 5. - Services. - Transportation, telephone, electricity, water, gas, funeral expenses, etc. 6. - Social Activities. - Recreation, culture, sports, etc. 7. - Taxes.
If we agree on these concepts, we can go on to analyze the purchasing power of the Cuban peso, that is to say, of the wage of any Cuban.
Let us consider that the main necessities of the Cubans are the same ones that we set down previously. Then let's analyze what a Cuban or a Cuban family spends for each of them.
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How much will it cost to educate these kids?
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Before beginning the analysis of each concept I want to explain a situation that exists in Cuba that is very different from other countries of the Third World and even of the First World (industrialized countries). In Cuba, in families, all the people of working age usually work and all the pensioners receive a pension. For this reason, in each household there are several incomes. In my house, for example, live seven people: me, my wife, my daughter and son-in-law (ages 29 & 30), their two children (ages 4 years and one month) and my son (age 27): so five of us are of working age and are working and receiving wages so the household has five incomes.
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Now, click to learn about:
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Is there money for roses as well as bread?
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Text (c) 2000 J. Gutierrez
Photos (c) 2000 C. O'Hara
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