Hey Vet,

In general, I would imagine Bogota salaries to be the best in Colombia and I think the salaries Kenfer has given fall into the upper echelon's.

I can give you some Cali salaries that I know of:

I know a guy who was the Cali director of operations for a LARGE English institute.  His salary was the best at the branch institute in Cali and it was 2,500,000 pesos.

My ex novia's aunt and uncle both have graduate degres and 15 years experience.  They are teachers in the public school system in Cali.  He makes 1,500,000 pesos and she 1,200,000.  Both their salaries are at the highest echelons of what a public school teacher can make, most teachers make much less.

My friend Monica just graduated from the university in economicas.  She had done an internship with a government enviromental body and they offered her a job recently.  Her beginning salary is 800,000 pesos but will be increased to 1,200,000 after her trial six month period ends.  She is one of a few people from her graduating class who have found proffessional jobs.

I know a guy who works for "IBM Colombia" in Cali.  IBM is a multinational corporation and pays great wages by Colombian standards.  He's a system engineer and his salary is about 6,000,000 pesos per month.  I believe this to be an eleit wage for a computer profesional and NOT representative of your typical skilled technology professional.

Based on my conversations with taxi-drivers and people who would know, a typical taxi driver might make anywhere from 600,000 pesos to a million or so.

El Diablo

I can share some figures on salaries based on what some professional friends make:

D..he's the general manager of a large, upscale clothing company. He manages more than 20 stores and the factory itself. Last time he told me he was making 4 million pesos per month...that's roughly U$2,300.

E..he was my roommate at school in California...he obtained a M.S. in electrical engineering. Before he moved to Florida from Colombia this year, he was based in Bogotá and was the manager for the Andean region for a big American telecommunications company. He was making close to U$ 3,000 per month.

A...she has a M.S. in computer science. She was working for the government in a managerial position. She was making around U$ 1,100 per month.

All of the above belong to what I consider the elite professionals.

The story about the professor making 8 million pesos per month is hard to belive...unless he has many years of experience + union privileges, etc. But still, 8 million pesos is kind of high.

Yes...there are doctors who earn U$ 1,000 per month...some even less. I have a lot of friends whose fathers are doctors and are well off (by Colombian standards) but they had to work twice as hard as a doctor in the U.S.

I went to Colombia last march and had a complete check up. First time I went to this upscale doctor he charged me $30.000 pesos and the second time $25.000...for a grand total of U$24 for a complete check up by a top doctor. Can't beat that if you go there with nice dollars.

Thanks a lot. That's the kind of info I was looking for. I imagine, being your cotemporaries the individuals whose incomes you quoted are at an early stage of their career and those saleries reflect that. As to the tenured faculty salery of the B/quilla profesor I was more surprised than you but my amiguita was adament. Anyway thanks again. If you think of any more examples please pass them along.

Cal-vet