The national minimum wage will be increased from $13,000 to $15,000 per 40-hour workweek effective June 1, 2024, Prime Minister Andrew Holness said on Thursday. According to Holness, the 15 per cent hike will put industrial security guards in line with other minimum wage earners.

Holness, who had already completed his budget debate presentation in the House of Representatives, returned to the lectern after being congratulated by his Government colleagues, saying he had neglected to make an important announcement in his attempt to wrap up his five-hour-long presentation.

He said that the Government thought about the adjustment very carefully and decided it was necessary to do so to keep the working class and the poorest abreast with inflation.

“We have to look out for the poor and most vulnerable in the society,” he told a still-packed Gordon House at some minutes to 7:00 pm.

“We had also signalled last year that we intended to do away with this business of having different minimum wages for our industrial security guards and everyone else. The minimum wage for industrial security guards will move from $14,000 per week to $15,000 per week and this will take effect from June 1, 2024,” he said.

The prime minister had made a similar announcement in his budget presentation last year when he declared that the minimum wage would be increased from $9,000 to $13,000 per 40-hour workweek effective June 1, while the minimum wage for industrial security guards would move from $10,500 per week to $14,000, also effective June 1.

That was a 44 per cent increase on the national minimum wage at that time, the largest in 20 years.

Continuing his presentation in the House on Thursday, Holness noted that as the Government moved around the island while campaigning for the February 26 Local Government Elections “it was clear that many of our working poor were having it really difficult”.

He said that on one of his stops on the campaign trail in Rose Town, Kingston, a young woman had stopped him and asked about increasing the minimum wage, complaining that her salary was not sufficient.

“There is certainly, on the lower ends of the society in terms of the working poor, real challenges. So, in presenting this budget, we looked at how we can support every sector of the society, and I believe the budget presented has touched almost every sector of the society. We have touched pensioners, we have touched public sector workers, we have touched people who want to own homes, we have touched the poor, we have touched the vulnerable. We have done as best as we could without being fiscally reckless. I believe we have presented to the people of Jamaica, a good budget,” he said.

Earlier, before he entered the chamber, Holness addressed exuberant, bell-ringing, horn-blowing supporters on the outside of Parliament. He told them that the “budget [debate presentation] that you will hear today is one that will not only give you hope, but it is a budget that will show you that we are on our way to the promised destiny of Jamaica”.