development

Workers request dialogue

Workers argue that recent economic reports are out-of-touch.

Organized workers have called for a national dialogue after analyzing the figures presented in the 2001-2007 UN National Human Development Index report and a recent study on poverty and income distribution in Panama.

Official data from these reports suggest that extreme poverty fell from 19.2 percent to 11.7 percent from 2001 to 2007, and that the unemployment rate dropped from 6.2 percent to 5.6 percent in the past year. Workers, however, argue that these figures are out-of-touch with reality.

Samuel Rivera, a representative from a national workers confederation, claims that the data is taken out of context. Rivera's colleague, Mariano Mena, agrees, opining that, “according to the report, a person who earns a dollar a day qualifies as poor [as opposed to extremely poor], when we know that nobody can buy breakfast with that amount.“

On the other hand, Rivera said that the reports are correct in saying that much remains to be done in the fields of education, health, transportation and security.