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NEW YEAR, NEW MINIMUM WAGE

Front Pages 30 Jun, 2025 Follow News

By Staff Writer

A 2026 New Year’s present awaits workers in the Cayman Islands who will see the minimum wage rise by KYD$2.75 to KYD$8.75 per hour.

Hon. Minister for Caymanian Employment, Michael Myles of the National Coalition For Caymanians(NCFC) coalition government cemented this when he made the announcement during the first sitting of the new Parliament last week.

He was at the time responding to Deputy Leader of the Opposition, Kenneth Bryan of the People’s Progressive Movement(PPM/Progressives). Mr Bryan had queried whether Mr Myles had deviated from a previously indicated position that it may take some time to review the voluminous recommendations of a previous government-appointed Minimum Wage Advisory Committee. The new NCFC government had inherited the report from the United People’s Movement(UPM) administration in which Mr Briyan was a minister. The UPM had reviewed but decided against implementing the report.

Mr Myles confirmed that the NCFC government is pushing ahead with the long-delayed and much-reviewed recommendations of the Minimum Wage Advisory Committee.

“Yes,” he affirmed. “Unlike previous administrations, who couldn’t find a consensus to make a decision on this important matter, we, the National Coalition for Caymanians, intend to accept and implement the recommendation of the Minimum Wage Advisory Committee final report that was submitted in 2023 under the previous government. We intend to implement the national minimum wage of $8.75 per hour, effective as of January 1st 2026.”

The much-debated rise in the minimum wage from KYD$ 6.00 per hour has been a contentious issue within the political arena and the business community for quite some time. The issue has been ventilated at opposite ends; from the justification for the raise to reflect the increased cost of living as outlined in the Minimum Wage Advisory Committee report, to its potential opposite effect as contributing to increasing the cost of living.

The latter point was made by opposition PPM/Progressives MP Dwayne Seymour recalling a similar policy in 2015. He noted the broad economic impact and the financial cost to individual employers, especially small businesses and domestic employers.

“I remind the new minister that in 2015 an unintended consequence happened, and most don’t like to talk about it. But the minimum wage in 2015 caused quite a disruption in terms of helpers in this country,” he stated, referring to Caymanian employers then not being able to afford to pay the increased minimum wage.

“So I’m asking if this was considered, because the increase is going to happen again, and person’s salaries have remained the same.”

Mr Seymour who was Labour Minister in the previous United People’s Movement government, raised the issue with Min. Myles of the wider implications of the policy which previous governments have sidestepped since 2015.

SEYMOUR: “I’m thankful that they were able to get a caucus to agree. It’s not always easy to get a caucus to agree on these things. Moving forward, has a team been put together to try to understand the effects of raising the minimum wage to $8.75? Has the Chamber(of Commerce) or anyone been contacted?”

MYLES: “I understand the unintended consequences, but I also want to make clear that we also have people here in our country who are living paycheck to paycheck, who are struggling to meet their normal bills because they’re being paid $6 an hour. Now I understand the helper situation, and it’s the reason why we are putting an implementation of January 1 2026. We’re always going to have a rise in the cost of living, regardless if we have a minimum wage increase or not. The economy is going to do whatever the economy is going to do. Our responsibility now is to protect our people and to ensure that they’re being paid at least appropriately.”

Mr Myles acknowledged that “There are a number of different recommendations in that law that certainly affects our economy. We understand that because it was in this report.”

The Minister for Caymanian Employment also offered to meet privately with the former Minister of Labour Seymour to further discuss the issue before the new KYD$8.75 minimum wage is implemented in January next year.

“I ask my gentleman friend to read the report, and I’m happy to have this discussion offline of how we can certainly meet in the middle.”

There were further questions on whether gratuities would be included in the minimum wage calculation(Deputy Opposition Leader Bryan); if the consumer price index would be factored in (PPM/Progressives opposition member Roy Tatum); and deferring the implementation from January 2026 to June 2026(PPM/Progressives opposition member Seymour).

Min. Myles said further details would be forthcoming and indicated that the plan as of now is to proceed with the recommendations towards the target implementation date of January 1st 2026.


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