The crawling growth of wages for workers could not keep up with the growing inflation, and the real value of wages has plummeted significantly since 1987. Constant demonstrations of angry people prompted the government to increase the wages in spite of criticism from the IMF. The public-sector wages were increased by 200-300 percent in 1997 and the teachers' wages were up by 100 percent in 1998. A threat of a strike came from the civil servants' union (Sindicato da Funcao Publica), who demanded an increase in minimum monthly wages from 40,000 dobras ($6) to 350,000 dobras ($52.50). Just finding a job in the country is difficult, however, for estimates of unemployment run as high as 50 percent.