On one level it is critical that as a country we have an established minimum wage. The objective being, to protect low level workers from unscrupulous employers. On another level, we must recognize that the current minimum wage of $16,000 per week, ie $64,000 per month, falls way below the average monthly cost of living for a single person across cities in Jamaica, of US$2,089 or $313,350 monthly, according to the “Living Cost Index” data. Bear in mind that the average pensioner who depends on the National Insurance Scheme (NIS) only gets between $7,000 and $18,000 per month!
A minimum wage is not the expected wage, but a national guide of what is the legally acceptable bottom level remuneration.
Any increase in the minimum wage always comes with casualties. We must accept that most people who employ household help, for example, are not rich or even upper-middle-class income earners. Many are struggling just like, and often more than those they employ. Just quietly ask a helper or a gardener about their employer. As a result, some will no longer be able to employ much-needed help. So, the $16,000 minimum wage, sad to say, will lead to even more job losses for the poorest, while still falling short of the national average cost of living.
So, what is the solution? Grow the damn economy. Jamaica has had an anaemic economy for far too long. We underproduce. We are too dependent on imports. We have far too much wasted human capital around, not to mention the fact that we, even after 63 years of self-government, have not yet learned how to effectively manage the human capital we have and help prepare at great cost to the taxpayer.
In the public sector for example, first class talent is brushed aside because they are not political party diehards. So, half of the available human capital in this small country is largely unemployed or under-employed at any time. Insanity!
Overall productivity rates are a joke for a country so blessed with resources. The official private sector comprises largely high-level higglers, or formal commercial importers, many producing nothing of much value but getting richer on importing and repackaging for resale. One only need to look at the deterioration of our dollar over the decades for clues.
So, we all need to cut the crap. Stop playing with minimum wage levels. Focus on building the economy from the bottom up. Encourage and support local entrepreneurship. Get serious, really serious about agriculture. Many of us are bored with the photo ops. A strong and resilient economy will produce better paying jobs. Too many have been surviving on the margins for too long.
It is critical for the Government to encourage entrepreneurship by crafting new and workable policies to support it. Too much of the process of registering companies in Jamaica is still too tiresome. Opening bank accounts for companies is still too onerous. One would believe that the financial institutions would be happy to have new customers, but the current processes tell a different story.
Hopefully 2026 will see some new, innovative, and refreshing efforts in this direction. Sadly, I am not terribly optimistic. We have for too long shown that for the most part our political leadership in Jamaica is more interested in photo ops rather than serious life-changing economic revolutions. Probably, just probably, an answer to our ever-challenging crime issue may just be building a strong economy with great opportunities for all our people.
It is not OK for our kids to be struggling through a tertiary institution at great costs to themselves and their families, only to graduate to a job, answering phones in a call centre! Jamaica needs new vision.
Wishing you all a merry Christmas and a new year filled with joy and accomplishments.
