And like you just heard the PM say, the government is trying to raise the minimum wage, they're hoping to do so by the end of the year.
But with the cost of groceries and fuel so high, the question that keeps being asked is whether a five dollar minimum wage is even enough?
But the PM says a higher minimum wage is just not sustainable.
Hon. John Briceno, Prime Minister
"What we did, what we said in planBelize, that we're prepared to raise the minimum wage to $5, but we do recognize that there must be some kind of mechanism where you can take periodic looks at the minimum wage and whether any adjustments need to be done."
"The point I want to make is that we understand that, but we have to be realistic. We can go and say raise the minimum wage to $10, to $20, $30, but what will happen then to businesses? They're going to shut down then it'll create an incredible amount of inflation that can lead us to devaluation so we have to find this balancing act that we have to do that we can't raise the minimum wage faster than what the economy can absorb and even at the $5, it is going to create some difficulties because, for instance, then that means that people that go and work in the homes and clean homes for instance, they have to be paid $5 and hour and so, some families, it will be difficult for them to be able to continue to pay their people that come to their house to clean and cook and so. So we have to find a balance, I wish it was easy, but it's not."
