And while the January first increase in the minimum wage is a signal accomplishment of the Briceno administration, the Chamber of Commerce is still not on-side with that move.
As we have reported, the $5.00 minimum wage is being implemented against the advice of the chamber, They say that the financial strain on the private sector will be significant and that a resulting negative consequence is job insecurity for the Belizean labourers who should benefit from this change.
And that job insecurity was just one of the many issues our Sunup hosts raised with chamber rep Marcello Blake when he sat down with us yesterday. Here's a snippet from that conversation.
Marcello Blake, Chamber Of Commerce
"The law prescribes minimum wage and so, minimum wage at $5.00 is what is within the control, so to speak of those policymakers, anything outside of that really is at the will of the employer to be able to adjust but what you are referring to is what we have been saying too there is a rippling effect that will come so I am at $3.30 I move to $5.00. I was an unskilled worker at $3.30 but Brandon was at $6.00 as a semi-skilled worker so Brandon will say no but wait you are only a dollar below me now so shouldn't I be looking forward to an adjustment just the same and that then creates an additional cost but even the $5.00 if we take it back to the productive sector also has an effect or I should say we will become less a, less viable in the international market because we now have a higher cost of production."
"So we are not as in the forefront as we used to be maybe with those partners that we used to sell to because we now need to go back and re-calculate all those numbers to see what our end product will now cost versus what it used to cost."
"The price of everything will be impacted within the next year, within the next couple of months because at the end of the day, employers, one of the things that have been overlooked is that employers have still been struggling. There are quite a few employers who have still been struggling after Covid to try and get back. We have employees who are still not at their 100 per cent salaries back because the employers say you know what I really can't afford it but I really want to hold on to you, you are a good employee. So, now with this change obviously there is going to be that cost whether I want to increase you or not, I must, based on the law which then means my cost of operations has gone up so now I need to make the hard decision, several options you say you know what you need to go home. I really can't keep you or if there were 5 of you I will keep three and I'll have to let go of two."
A statement from the government on December 22nd says the increase is part of the Government's strategy to, quote: "combat poverty and reduce inequality." The release adds, "An increase in income in the hands of consumers will provide a stimulus to the Belizean economy through increased demand and consumption."
