Minimum Wage for Domestic Workers Guatemala 2026: Q4,252.28 + Bonus

This page explains exactly what employers in Guatemala — including US-based diaspora families who employ a cocinera, niñera, jardinero, or cuidadora for an elderly parent — owe under the 2026 minimum wage decree (Acuerdo Gubernativo 256-2025 / Government Decree 256-2025). The short version: domestic workers get the full Non-Agricultural minimum wage, the Q250 incentive bonus, Bono 14, Aguinaldo, and paid vacation, plus IGSS-PRECAPI coverage in Guatemala department. There is no legal “domestic worker discount.”

TL;DR: There is no lower minimum wage for domestic work. Domestic workers are entitled to the Non-Agricultural minimum wage for their economic zone (Q4,252.28/month CE1, Q4,066.90/month CE2) plus the mandatory Q250 incentive bonus (Bonificación incentivo, established by Decreto 78-89). Since 2009 they can be affiliated with IGSS via the PRECAPI program. They are owed Bono 14, Aguinaldo and paid vacation like any other formal employee. Hours are different: the Labor Code (Art. 164) exempts domestic work from the workday limits and instead guarantees 10 hours of daily rest and 6 extra hours of paid rest on Sundays and holidays. ILO Convention 189 would go further, but Guatemala has not ratified it.

Quick facts

2026 minimum wage table for domestic workers

Two daily figures, only one of them legal. Acuerdo Gubernativo 256-2025 publishes a daily rate directly — Q131.58 (CE1) and Q125.49 (CE2) for non-agricultural work — and that is the legal floor. The base ÷ 30 figure in the last column is the payroll convention many employers and calculators use; it is not in the decree, and it is slightly higher because the decree’s monthly figure equals the daily rate × 365/12 (30.42), not × 30. See our full minimum wage table.

Domestic workers fall under the Non-Agricultural category regardless of whether the household is in the capital or the countryside — what matters is the department where the worker performs the job, not where the employer lives.

Who counts as a “domestic worker” under Guatemalan law

The category is broad and includes anyone who performs work for a private household:

• Cocineras / cocineros — cooks
• Niñeras — nannies / childcare workers
• Empleadas de casa / empleados domésticos — house cleaners and general help
• Cuidadoras — caregivers for elderly, sick, or disabled family members
• Jardineros — gardeners working for one household (multi-household contractors are a different category)
• Choferes particulares — private drivers
• Personal de seguridad doméstico — household security personnel hired directly

All of the above are entitled to the same Non-Agricultural minimum wage. There is no legal sub-category for “less-skilled” domestic work — Guatemala does not have the kind of tiered minimum wage that exists in some other countries.

Live-in (puertas adentro) vs live-out (puertas afuera)

Both arrangements are legal. The differences:

Honest note: Most Guatemalan families pay full cash wages and provide room/board on top for live-in workers. Discounting room and board from the cash minimum has no clear legal basis: the Constitution (Art. 102 d) allows pay in food only for farm workers, up to 30%.

What employers owe beyond base salary

A formal domestic worker is owed all the same benefits as any formal employee:

1. Q250 monthly Bonificación incentivo (incentive bonus, Decreto 78-89) — paid each month alongside the base salary.
2. Bono 14 — one extra base salary paid in July every year (calculated on Q4,002.28 base in CE1, not Q4,252.28).
3. Aguinaldo — one extra base salary paid in two halves (50% in the first half of December, 50% in the second half of January). Same base for calculation.
4. Paid vacation — 15 working days per year, after one year of service.
5. IGSS-PRECAPI — the social-security program for domestic workers (Acuerdo 1235 of the IGSS Board). Per IGSS’s 2026 brochure it covers maternity, accidents and well-child care for children under 5, and only operates in Guatemala City and the municipalities of Guatemala department. We found no rule making enrollment mandatory or a fine for not enrolling. It is not a percentage of salary: it is a fixed quarterly quota on the non-agricultural minimum wage — employer Q303.66/quarter (~Q101.22/month), combined employer + worker Q455.49/quarter — paid quarterly in advance at Banrural.
6. Severance (indemnización) — if terminated without cause, one base salary per year of service plus accrued benefits.
7. Rest — at least 10 hours of absolute rest a day (8 at night, continuous, and 2 for meals) and 6 additional hours of paid rest on Sundays and holidays (Art. 164). The general weekly-rest-day rule (Art. 126) does not apply to domestic work.

Use the calculator below to estimate the IGSS contribution (employer and worker share) on the worker’s base salary. Note: this general IGSS calculator applies only if the employer uses regular IGSS affiliation. For domestic workers under PRECAPI, the cost is not a salary percentage — it is the fixed quarterly quota (employer Q303.66/quarter, combined Q455.49/quarter in 2026).

Total annual cost for a CE1 domestic worker (2026)

This is the minimum legal cost. Many families pay above minimum, especially for experienced cuidadoras or live-in workers with childcare experience.

ILO Convention 189 and Guatemala

Guatemala has not ratified Convention 189 of the International Labour Organization on Decent Work for Domestic Workers: the bill to approve it (iniciativa 4981) entered Congress in 2016 and is still pending. The convention establishes:

• Equal treatment under labor law — no discount for domestic work
• The right to a written contract
• Reasonable working hours and weekly rest
• Minimum wage parity with comparable workers
• Right to maternity protection
• Right to social security (IGSS in Guatemala)
• Protection from abuse and discrimination

Several of these go beyond Guatemalan law today: the Labor Code exempts domestic work from the workday limits (Art. 164) and allows a verbal contract (Art. 27). Until Congress ratifies the convention, the Labor Code’s Arts. 161-166 are what apply.

For US-based diaspora hiring a worker in Guatemala

Many Guatemalan-Americans employ a cuidadora for an elderly parent, a niñera for a sibling’s children, or a caretaker for a family home. The legal obligations are identical to those of an employer living in Guatemala.

This page covers what you owe; for the full hiring process — finding and vetting a worker, the written contract, onboarding, running monthly payroll, and ending the relationship correctly — see the step-by-step guide to hiring domestic help.

Typical setup

1. Sign the contract through a Guatemalan family member or attorney. A US-based employer can legally hire directly, but it simplifies things to have a relative in-country sign on your behalf (poder especial / power of attorney).
2. Register the worker in IGSS-PRECAPI if they work in Guatemala department (the program does not operate elsewhere). This requires an in-person visit to IGSS by either you, the worker, or your power-of-attorney representative.
3. Pay monthly via bank transfer — Wise, Remitly, or a domestic Guatemalan bank transfer if you maintain an account there. Cash payments are legal but make IGSS contributions harder to document.
4. Track Bono 14 (July) and Aguinaldo (December) — easy to forget from abroad. Set calendar reminders.
5. Keep payment records. In case of any dispute or termination claim, you’ll need to show 6+ years of payment history.

Common diaspora hiring mistakes

Calculating common scenarios

Scenario 1: Full-time live-out cocinera in Guatemala City (CE1)

• Base salary: Q4,002.28/month
• • Bonificación incentivo: Q250.00/month
• Cash monthly: Q4,252.28
• Employer IGSS-PRECAPI: ~Q101/month (fixed PRECAPI quota)
• Total employer cost (monthly): ~Q4,353
• Annual all-in cost: ~Q60,247 / ~$7,907 USD

Scenario 2: Live-in niñera in Antigua (CE2, Sacatepéquez)

• Base salary: Q3,816.90/month
• • Bonificación incentivo: Q250.00/month
• Cash monthly minimum: Q4,066.90 (employer usually pays full + provides room/board as additional benefit)
• IGSS-PRECAPI: not available — IGSS says the program only operates in Guatemala City and the municipalities of Guatemala department
• Annual cost minimum (12 wages + Bono 14 + Aguinaldo): ~Q56,437 / ~$7,406 USD

Scenario 3: Part-time cleaner, 3 days per week (CE1)

• 3 days × 8 hours × 4.33 weeks = ~104 hours/month
• Hourly minimum: Q21.00
• Cash minimum: ~Q2,184/month + pro-rated bonus
• Bono 14 / Aguinaldo / vacation all pro-rate accordingly

What to do if your employer pays below minimum

If you are a domestic worker being paid less than the legal minimum, you have several avenues:

1. MINTRAB General Labor Inspection (Inspección General de Trabajo) — MINTRAB headquarters, 7a. Avenida 3-33, Zone 9, Guatemala City, or any departmental delegation.
2. MINTRAB complaints line: 1511 — complaints can be anonymous.
3. Online portal — file with DPI on the MINTRAB website.
4. Bring documentation: any written contract, payment receipts, photo of paystubs (or lack thereof), DPI.

Per Labor Code Art. 272 literal a), as reformed by Decreto 7-2017, the employer faces a fine of 8 to 18 monthly minimum wages in force for non-agricultural activities - Q32,018 to Q72,041 in 2026 at the CE1 base salary of Q4,002.28 (Q30,535 to Q68,704 at the CE2 base of Q3,816.90; the Q250 bonificacion is not salary and is not part of the fine base) - plus retroactive back-pay with interest. The article does not say the fine stacks per worker: the Departmental Delegate of the Labor Inspectorate grades it within the band, and the number of affected workers is one of the criteria (Art. 271).

Sources

• Ministerio de Trabajo y Previsión Social (MINTRAB) — Acuerdo Gubernativo Número 256-2025, published in the Diario Oficial December 22, 2025. Official announcement: Diario de Centro América. The agreement PDF that MINTRAB publishes under mintrabajo.gob.gt/doc/AcuerdosGubernativos/2025/ returns 403 to every automated client, so it is named here rather than linked as read.
• Código de Trabajo de Guatemala — Decreto 1441, Articles 27, 103-113, 161-166, 271; Article 272 as reformed by Decreto 7-2017.
• Constitución Política de la República, Article 102 (d) — pay in legal tender; food up to 30% only for farm workers.
• Decreto 78-89 del Congreso — Ley de Bonificación Incentivo.
• International Labour Organization Convention No. 189 — Decent Work for Domestic Workers (NORMLEX blocks headless clients; text read through a proxy reader on 2026-09-01). Not ratified by Guatemala: iniciativa 4981 pending in Congress since 2016 (Agencia Ocote, October 2025).
• IGSS — Programa Especial de Protección para Trabajadoras de Casa Particular (PRECAPI), 2026 brochure: Q151.83 worker + Q303.66 employer = Q455.49 per quarter; coverage only in Guatemala department.
• Full texts: Código de Trabajo (Decreto 1441) — CENADOJ consolidated text · Decreto 7-2017 — Congreso PDF.
• Full text of Decreto 78-89: PDF published by the Congreso — an image-only scan with no text layer, so it is not searchable.
• Verified: May 2026.