ESHER, Hanover — In the wake of concerns about the impact salary hikes may have on inflation, Deputy President of the Senate Charles Sinclair has dismissed suggestions that the Government showed a lack of foresight when it went ahead with this year’s increases in the public sector.

This included a massive hike in parliamentarians’ salaries, with some seeing percentage pay increases in the triple digits.

It is important, the Government senator stressed, to find the right balance when increasing wages.

“Yes, you increase the wages — persons must be fairly paid for the work that they do,” stated Sinclair.

He conceded that the private sector will likely adjust wages in line with those in the public sector.

“A lot of persons, even when you look at what is happening in private schools, they tend to track what happens in government schools with teachers employed by the Government and the wages that they get. So when you find that happening — the increase in wages to government teachers — the private schools tend to follow them,” reasoned Sinclair.

However, he stressed the need for an accompanying increase in productivity, a point often made by those who have questioned the scale of the MPs’ increases.

“What it is that the private sector and all of us workers in Jamaica [need to do] is to seek to increase productivity. If we produce more and do more then you can have the wages also being increased because you will have more goods and services available — and the inflationary pressures by too much money being available chasing … less goods won’t arise,” argued Sinclair.

He was speaking with the Jamaica Observer following a presentation to the Rotary Club of Lucea in Hanover on Sunday.

BOJ Governor Richard Byles came under pressure last week for his comments about the impact of salary hikes on inflation. Some people interpreted the comments to mean that Byles was discouraging salary hikes above six to seven per cent within the private sector, conflating it with the recently increased salaries for MPs. However in his initial comments Byles had stressed that if productivity increases comparatively alongside wage hikes, this would address the issue of inflation.

On Saturday, even as his replies dovetailed with Byles’ earlier comments, Sinclair stressed that the BOJ is an independent entity. He was referencing the Bank of Jamaica (Amendment) Act, 2020 which took effect in April 2021, allowing the central bank to operate independently of the Ministry of Finance.

“When the Bank of Jamaica governor came out and spoke he was speaking on his mandate, which is making that recommendation that [with] the increase in wages in the private sector one has to be cautious in how you approach it. Now, he is speaking from his perspective,” stated Sinclair, who said he did not get the impression the governor was categorically discouraging wage increases.