NASSAU, BAHAMAS — The government is expected to introduce legislation to increase the minimum wage “soon”, said Minister or Labour Keith Bell yesterday.
Speaking to reporters outside Parliament on the matter, Bell said: “We are currently working very closely with the Office of the Attorney General, where we are anticipating that the legislation will be ready very soon and we will be able to present it very soon in this Parliament.”
Pressed on how soon that bill could come, he said: “I cannot preempt anything of the Cabinet and certainly the prime minister, and that would be a decision of the Cabinet.”
While he could not say whether it will be in the first quarter this year, the labor minister maintained that he is “very hopeful and optimistic”.
During the Progressive Liberal Party’s (PLP) campaign trail, it promised that if elected to govern, it would recommend the country’s minimum wage be increased to $250 per week and reduce value-added tax (VAT) to 10 percent “across the board” for 12 months.
The Davis administration’s Speech from the Throne also promises an increase in minimum wage and phase into a livable wage.
Bell, however, could not indicate yesterday what that livable wage would be.
“We call it a ‘livable wage’ because we anticipate that we will be moving the minimum wage, and again, that is a decision for the Cabinet to determine,” he said.
It obviously has [significant] financial implications, so we will have to wait for what the Cabinet determines.
– Minister of Labour and Immigration Keith Bell
“It obviously has [significant] financial implications, so we will have to wait for what the Cabinet determines.”
The country’s minimum wage is currently $210 a week.
The last minimum wage increase was in 2015, during the Christie administration, from $150 per week to $210 per week.
Prior to that, there had been no change in the country’s minimum wage since January 2002.
A 2020 study by the University of The Bahamas’ Government and Public Policy Institute concluded that a living wage on New Providence and Grand Bahama would be $2,625 and $3,550 per month respectively.
Researchers considered costs of an affordable and nutritious diet; house and utility; education; healthcare; transportation; clothing; recreation; emergency and unexpected event funds; savings and investments; among other things in their calculations.
Trade union leaders, such as Trade Union Congress (TUC) President Obie Ferguson, have called for a minimum wage increase to between $250 and $300 per week, suggesting that such a rise is justified by cost of living increases and the VAT rate hike to 12 percent.
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