After getting 3 000% wage hike, workers fired in Venezuela

Venezuelan workers who earned a pittance are now earning a slightly larger pittance, thanks to a big increase in the minimum wage. What they may not have are jobs. Starting this week, 7 million employees are guaranteed 1 800 bolivars a month - worth about $20 at the black-market rate. President Nicolas Maduro intended the mandate as political boost, but it’s having the opposite effect as companies, already hit by Venezuela’s epic economic contraction, tell workers they can’t afford to keep them. More…