The national minimum wage will be doubled from $16,000 to $32,000 over next several years, if the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) returns to power after Wednesday’s General Election, says JLP leader, Prime Minister Andrew Holness.

He made the announcement at a JLP mass meeting in Old Harbour Road, Spanish Town, St Catherine on Sunday night. The crowd erupted in jubilation at the announcement.

“In our first budget, the minimum wage will move from $16,000 to $18,500, and then gradually, after that, for the next few years,” Holness stated.

He explained that the increase is necessary because the Jamaican economy has changed due to the lowering of the unemployment rate.

“… At 3.3 per cent unemployment, you are practically at full employment. People are not making decisions to leave what they are doing; many of them are at home, many of them are at the street side, some of them are hustling, and so the incentive to work at that level (current minimum wage) is not strong enough,” Holness noted.

“So by increasing the minimum wage gradually, you shift the incentive to work, in favour of work. So you going to get more Jamaicans voluntarily deciding to move out of the unemployment pool and into the labour pool, and that will give greater opportunity for growth in the economy,” he said.