Kristen Gyles | Nothing wrong with minimum wage jobs

In recent times, an interesting philosophy seems to have emerged, especially amongst the working and upper economic classes regarding our national minimum wage. The thinking goes like this:

“Minimum wage was never intended for people who have children to raise. The minimum wage is a salary for young adults who have just left school with little to no qualifications and need time to ‘better’ themselves so they can earn more. No minimum wage job should be a lifetime occupation and to be earning the minimum wage is to be in a transitory phase in life. No one with ambition should get comfortable in a job that pays the minimum wage. People should instead seek to elevate themselves out of minimum wage jobs and not rely on the government to keep increasing the minimum wage.”

Let us talk about this.

Currently, the minimum wage is $16,000 per 40-hour work week. Is it difficult to get by earning the minimum wage? Of course it is. So, what is the solution here? The solution might be for all persons who have bills to pay and children to raise, to avoid all industries that pay the minimum wage. And while that is a great solution for individuals who want to empower themselves financially, it is a horrible solution for the country.

CRITICAL MOVING PARTS

Whether it is acknowledged or not, many minimum wage workers are critical moving parts in the machine we call ‘society’. Many security guards, for example, earn $16,000 weekly. When they all become discontent with their paltry pay and decide to move on and out of the security industry, do we all just inspect our own ID cards before entering buildings and look at ourselves on the surveillance cameras? Do we tell the criminals to do so as well?

Many hospitality workers earn $16,000 weekly. Perhaps they should also get some ambition and leave those jobs for ones that pay better. The rest of us will simply forget about hotel experiences and fine dining. Many business process outsourcing (BPO) sector workers also earn $16,000 weekly. And, again, without these workers, what do the rest of us do? After all, business, and by extension life as we know it, would change drastically without them.

The eco-system of society relies on security guards. It relies on hotel workers. It relies on restaurant workers. It relies on BPO sector workers. It relies on garbage collectors. It relies on domestic workers. These are all honourable jobs that society needs, and no one should be seen as lacking in ambition for occupying these jobs, whether in the short or long term.

The solution cannot be for all these workers to abandon these critical industries in search of better-paying jobs. Instead, we should want every security guard to want to keep his or her job. The solution therefore has to be for the security guard to be paid at a rate that allows him or her to get by without borrowing, begging or burglarizing. There is nothing wrong with minimum wage jobs, but there is something wrong with the quantum of the minimum wage.

Fortunately, successive governments over the years have tried their hands at connecting the minimum wage to the ever-increasing cost of living. As a result, the minimum wage has been increasing.

In the Jamaica Labour Party’s (JLP’s) manifesto launched on Sunday, says it will build on its track record of minimum wage increases. Increases will be considered in light of cost of living, inflation and economic and employment conditions. Similarly, the People’s National Party (PNP) promises in its manifesto to launch a Liveable Wage Commission to review income standards and recommend a fair national minimum wage. The Jamaica Progressive Party (JPP) also says it will increase the minimum wage to US$ 11 per hour over the next three years.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Fortunately, there is acknowledgement of the fact that the minimum wage is not where it needs to be. Where there now needs to be agreement is on the fact that the minimum wage ought not to be pulled out of a hat. The strategy should not simply be to increase the minimum wage by random amounts from time to time at undetermined intervals. There ought to be some standard or metric for the development of a minimum wage that allows an individual to meet basic monthly or weekly expenses, including childcare expenses.

The quantum of the minimum wage has been a sticking point for different stakeholder groups for some time now. While the minimum wage ought not to be excessively burdensome for small business owners and private employers, it must also be sufficient to allow minimum wage workers to survive. This is a balancing act and that is acknowledged.

The point, however, is that any messaging that cries shame on people for becoming content with ‘settling’ for minimum wage jobs is damaging. Jamaicans ought to elevate themselves financially in whatever way they can. However, in a Jamaica where everyone seeks to elevate him or herself, it should not be that our minimum wage jobs are all left vacant or left only to people who have no options. This is why the national minimum wage needs to become a liveable wage. It is not for want of ambition that people advocate for an increase to the minimum wage. It is out of concern that more and more, the country becomes increasingly inequitable in its allocation of wealth and in the way people are compensated for the work that they do.

If every high school graduate is forced to pursue the same career fields because they do not want to spend their adult lives fighting hunger, then we might end up with a society of doctors who work in hospitals that have no porters.

Kristen Gyles is a free-thinking public affairs opinionator. Send feedback to kristengyles@gmail.com and columns@gleanerjm.com