KINGSTON, Jamaica — The House of Representatives this afternoon approved the new national minimum wage (NMW) of $7,000 per 40-hour work-week for the lowest paid workers.

The new rate, which becomes effective on Emancipation Day, August 1, will increase the old rate of $6,200, which has been in effect since 2016.

The minimum rate paid to security guards has also been increased, simultaneously as usual, to $9,700, up from $8,854 per week and reflecting a 9.6 per cent increase.

Opening the debate today, Minister of Labour and Social Security, Shahine Robinson, said that it was necessary for her ministry to do a balancing act, in order to protect both the wage earning employers, as well as the workers earning the NMW.

“Some of the employers are also struggling financially,” Robinson said.

But, Opposition spokesman on labour and welfare, Horace Dalley, not only criticised the Government for calling back the MPs from their summer break to approve an increase which was announced from June 26 by the minister, but suggested that was “not enough’.

Dalley criticised the level of increases for both minimum wage earners and security guards, describing them as “very small and meaningless”.

He said that the Jamaican economy could afford to pay these workers much more than the $800 increase they have been given. However, he said that the Opposition would vote with the Government to pass the increases.

Dally also stated that the Opposition, whenever it becomes Government, would increase the rate annually and above the inflation rate.

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/latestnews/House_approves_new_national_minimum_wage