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Economist praises basic wage push

by Marlon Madden
2 min read
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Though welcoming the dawn of a national minimum wage and sectoral minimum wage for security guards, a local economist is expressing reservations about its timing and the amount being proposed.

Jeremy Stephen told Barbados TODAY that he applauded the Mia Mottley administration for recommending a $9.25 per hour minimum wage for security officers, stating that this showed Government’s recognition that their jobs are essential.

“I am glad this first step has happened,” said Stephen. “I have no problem that security personnel are being given a minimum wage that is above the supposed national amount,” he said.

However, Stephen said the proposed national minimum wage “still pales in comparison for what could be a livable wage in this country, considering the price of rent, food and [other expenses].”

“One would hope that an ideal situation could have been that government could also sufficiently subsidize the cost of living to help those being paid the proposed $1,360 per month,” he said, referencing the basic costs of transportation and rent or mortgage.

In the notice of intention, the Ministry of Labour and Social Partnership Relations indicated that the aim was to implement a national minimum wage of $8.50 per hour, which would equate to $69 per day of an 8-hour workday, $340 weekly for a 40-hour work week, or $1,360 per month.

Government is hoping the new minimum wage will take effect on April 1, 2021.

Stephen said although the talk of a national minimum wage has been around since last year, given the time in which Government was hoping to have the law in place, he did not believe a lot of companies would be able to immediately comply.

He suggested that employers be given until September this year to become fully compliant once the amounts were agreed on and the law updated.

He said while on the surface it appeared to be just an accounting function, he recalled the headache associated with the implementation and adherence to the Employment Rights Act.

“If the government wants to give a tax break for persons who do early implementation of adhering to the national minimum wage that would be great,” he said.

“Of course, it does revolve around a lot of changes to HR schemes within businesses across Barbados. So suffice to say, I believe there should be some period of moratorium simply due to the fact that coming out of a lockdown it is going to take some time for businesses to recover cash positions. The tourism season underperformed so a lot of companies were bleeding cash,” he explained.

The former banking and finance university lecturer said he did not believe the proposed $8.50 per hour national minimum wage would destabilize businesses that depended on low cost labour. However, he said he expected the business community to give some push back. (marlonmadden@barbadostoday.bb)

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