Employing Workers in Peru

This section explores the regulation of employment in Peru.

The country data appearing on this page was collected as part of the Doing Business project, which measures and compares regulations relevant to the life cycle of a small- to medium-sized domestic business in 183 economies. The most recent round of data collection for the project was completed in June 2009.

Employing workers indices are based on a detailed survey of employment regulations that is completed by local lawyers and public officials. Employment laws and regulations as well as secondary sources are reviewed to ensure accuracy. The table below shows the main indicators for employing workers. They include:

  • The rigidity of employment index - a simple average of the difficulty of hiring index, the rigidity of hours index, and the difficulty of redundancy index.
  • The difficulty of hiring index, which measures the applicability and maximum duration of fixed-term contracts and minimum wage for trainee or first-time employee.
  • The rigidity of hours index, which measures the scheduling of nonstandard work hours and annual paid leave.
  • The difficulty of redundancy index, which measures the notification and approval requirements for termination of a redundant worker or a group of redundant workers, obligation to reassign or retrain and priority rules for redundancy and reemployment.
  • The firing cost, which measures the notice requirements, severance payments and penalties due when terminating a redundant worker, expressed in weeks of salary.

Higher values in the table indicate more rigid regulations.

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Rigidity of employment index (0-100)39
Difficulty of hiring index (0-100)44
Are fixed-term contracts prohibited for permanent tasks?Yes1
What is the maximum duration of fixed-term contracts (including renewals)? (in months)600.0
What is the ratio of mandated minimum wage to the average value added per worker?0.350.33
Rigidity of hours index (0-100)13
Can the workweek extend to 50 hours (including overtime) for 2 months per year to respond to a seasonal increase in production?Yes0
What is the maximum number of working days per week?60
Are there restrictions on night work and do these apply when continuous operations are economically necessary?Yes0.67
Are there restrictions on "weekly holiday" work and do these apply when continuous operations are economically necessary?No0.00
What is the paid annual vacation (in working days) for an employee with 20 years of service?130
Difficulty of redundancy index (0-100)60
Is the termination of workers due to redundancy legally authorized?Yes0
Must the employer notify a third party before terminating one redundant worker?Yes1
Does the employer need the approval of a third party to terminate one redundant worker?Yes2
Must the employer notify a third party before terminating a group of 9 redundant workers?Yes1
Does the employer need the approval of a third party to terminate a group of 9 redundant workers?Yes1
Is there a retraining or reassignment obligation before an employer can make a worker redundant?No0
Are there priority rules applying to redundancies?No0
Are there priority rules applying to re-employment?Yes1
Redundancy costs (weeks of salary)17
What is the notice period for redundancy dismissal after 20 years of continuous employment? (weeks of salary)  0.0
What is the severance pay for redundancy dismissal after 20 years of employment? (weeks of salary) 17.1
What is the legally mandated penalty for redundancy dismissal? (weeks of salary) 0.0

Note: The Rigidity of Employment Index is the average of three sub-indices: Difficulty of Hiring Index, Rigidity of Hours Index, and Difficulty of Firing Index. Each of these indices assigns values between 0 and 100, with higher values representing more rigid regulations.