New official data released by the Dominican Republic’s National Statistics Office (ONE) reveals a mixed picture for the country’s formal business sector in 2024, pairing a small year-over-year drop in total employment with notable growth in average monthly wages across the industry. Findings from the 2025 National Survey of Economic Activity (ENAE), published this cycle, show that the total number of workers employed in the formal sector reached 881,265 in 2024. That marks a 1.1% decline from the 2023 total of 891,144 registered formal employees. Against this pullback in total headcount, the survey confirms broad-based wage growth across all major formal industry segments, with the national average monthly formal sector salary climbing to RD$34,318.81 in 2024, up from RD$31,213.11 recorded in 2023. The data also sheds light on persistent wage disparities across different industries, a trend that has held steady for multiple reporting cycles. Mining and quarrying retained its position as the highest-paying sector in the Dominican Republic’s formal economy, with average monthly earnings rising to RD$76,136.48 in 2024, up from RD$72,596.78 the previous year. Taking the second spot in the ranking of highest-paying industries is the electricity supply sector, where average monthly salaries grew from RD$65,644.66 in 2023 to RD$68,863.20 in 2024. Seven additional formal sectors outpaced the 2024 national average wage: information and communications, construction, transportation and storage, trade, manufacturing, and water supply. At the opposite end of the wage spectrum, accommodation and food services remained the lowest-paying segment of the country’s formal economy, even as the sector recorded solid year-over-year wage growth. Average monthly pay in accommodation and food services rose from RD$20,421.38 in 2023 to RD$23,193.42 in 2024. Beyond industry-level trends, the 2025 ENAE survey confirmed that company size remains a key predictor of average pay levels for Dominican formal sector workers. Contrary to common assumptions that large multinational or domestic enterprise offer the highest compensation, the survey found that medium-sized firms — defined here as businesses with 100 to 249 employees — delivered the highest average salaries in 2024. Average monthly pay at this size of company rose from RD$36,799.92 in 2023 to RD$40,330.30 in 2024, a gain that outstripped the average compensation recorded at larger Dominican firms. The ONE’s latest release provides policymakers, business leaders, and labor advocates with the most up-to-date granular data on formal labor market trends in the Dominican Republic, offering critical context for discussions of economic growth, wage policy, and labor market regulation heading into 2025.
Mining workers earn the highest salaries in Dominican Republic, ONE survey shows
