Basic wage increase for tourism workers on hold
(CNS): Labour Minister Michael Myles has said that a planned increase in the minimum wage for those employed in the tourism industry is on hold. Shortly after the previous administration rejected a 2023 report which advised increasing the basic wage to $8.75 per hour across the board, it announced that the minimum wage for people working in hospitality would increase on 1 July from $6 to $7.
The minimum wage in the Cayman Islands was introduced in 2016 and should have been reviewed many years ago. However, the last two administrations failed to address this issue, and the current rate is now below the poverty line.
The Minimum Wage Advisory Committee conducted comprehensive and detailed research and in March 2024, produced a report explaining why the basic wage should be increased. The MWAC recommended a minimum wage of $8.75 per hour, as the research indicated this would be accepted by the business community and would not fuel inflation.
However, the labour minister at the time, Dwayne Seymour, who employs a number of people on minimum wage in his company, rejected the entire report and all the MWAC’s work, saying that he wanted to establish a new committee to look at the issue sector by sector. Nevertheless, he said that the basic pay for those working in tourism would be increased from 1 July 2025.
But the new minister has said the National Coalition for Caymanians will take a look at the committee’s work and see how to address this issue to fit with its political agenda and the need to stop the country importing poverty.
Speaking to Compass TV last week, Myles said the document he has is “so thick, it is like a book and I am still trying to wrap my head around that” before a decision is made. He said it was a great document based on “wonderful research”, which the government “paid a boatload of money to produce” — understood to be around CI$54,000.
Myles said the minimum wage decision is being deferred until the government has discussed the way forward, as the issue of “imported poverty” is a fundamental challenge. Some changes are being made to the immigration law to increase the amount a work permit holder must be paid before they can bring a dependent child to $5,000 per month.
He said the immigration system is driving down wages, making it difficult for locals to accept jobs in certain industries. Referring to people coming to Cayman and accepting the minimum wage, he said there were “a lot of these folks who will work for literally anything”.
Myles added, “A lot of these people are also being taken advantage of, because now you have unscrupulous employers that are not paying pension, health insurance, or not paying them, period.” He stressed that the government plans to hold employers accountable.
While the minimum wage affects foreign workers, many of the estimated 10,000 people earning this minimum pay or just above it are local. The MWAC found that in 2023, over 2,000 Caymanians were basic wage earners.
- Fascinated
- Happy
- Sad
- Angry
- Bored
- Afraid
Why is everyone pretending they don’t know that..
the Tourism Minimum Wage is only $4.50/hr Shamefully.
it’s only this sector that was to be increased this month!
and you wonder why locals cannot afford to work in Tourism!!
??Caymankind much?!
After so many years waiting on this we were looking forward to this small but necessary salary increase. no-one helps us when our good Christian managers withhold our overtime pay, dip into our daily grats and tips, or cut our schedule hours to ensure we make even less that is required to survive in Cayman.
So now government has continued too by denying the raise in June without pre inform workers.
So not even young people will take these basic tourism jobs and who can blame them for its designed to bring in people from India, Africa, Nepat Philippines and all over the world.
only locals are left out of our own success after we built this industry when noone else knew we were here.
Only the Governor or King Charles can step in at this point it seems.
Everyone including businesses are struggling and forced to get by with less
And the UK have recognized this problem and are making strides to build 500,000 Affordable Homes over the next 10 years to ease there Cost of Living and Housing Crisis
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/over-500000-homes-to-be-built-through-new-national-housing-bank
Maybe its time for the Cayman Islands to follow there example and build 5,000 to 10,000 Affirdable Multi-Storey Homes on the three islands over the next 10 years too
Minimum Wage, Cost of Living & Affordable Housing
This news article in the Cayman News Services about CIG reviewing Minimum Wage has a lot of wonderful suggestion by there readers that are not openly discussed, maybe you can refer to and highlight some of the suggestions there readers wrote for your audience to openly discuss
CIG asks public to review $8.75/hour basic pay
https://caymannewsservice.com/2024/03/cig-asks-public-to-review-8-75-hour-basic-pay/
However, it is important to discuss some solution for our local inefficiencies and inadequate employment, affordable housing and transpertation situation have to be achived with an equilbrium or a balance reached and achived to provide comfortably housing accomodatioms, food, utilities and transpertation for the following classes in our community:
• The Lower Class
• The Middle Class
• The High Class or the Wealthy
We cannot expect to pay a Mimnimum Wage to our people just because businesses are strugling financially and not expect to provide proper and affordable basic necesseties like housing, transpertation, food, utilities
A balance have got to be reached that is inclusive of all three varing classes in our society
Affordable Homes in George Town
While i am very please with Minister Jay Ebanks efforts and attention to look at the Storm Water Drainage Flooding problems at Randyke Gardens and in the South Sound area to build affordable multi-storey homes that causes very high annual Insurance Premiums, along with the Government Guaranteed Home Assisted Mortgage scheme to aid our people with obtaining a home and home ownership.
https://caymanindependent.com/minister-plans-law-changes-to-curb-flood-risk-from-new-builds/
I would like to humbly piont out to everyone the absence of the fundamental reasons WHY and WHAT the National Development Housing Trust was established.
Firstly, the National Development Housing Trust was established and was suppose to issue Mortgage Loans at half the Interest Rate and half the Monthly Repayment rates that the retail banks offer homeowners; ultimately making home ownership more affordable and atainable for Middle and Lower Income earners
That decision was made due to the difficulties highlighted, broadly discussed and found that lots of our local people were over extended by paying high monthly payments on mortgaged Rental complex apartments, 2 or 3 Credit Cards, Vacation, Consumer or Car Loans etc……. and could no longer afford to absord the high interest rates and high monthly loan repayments.
Hence was the reason for the establishment and introduction of a National Development Housing Trust 7% Fixed Mortgage Loan Interest Rate with a Low Monthly Repayment
Secondly, the National Development Housing Trust was suppose to construct and build housing communities and re-sell the affordable homes or apartments in those communities at the cost of building them, with an Affordable Day Care Child Center and a Children After School Program with a community Outreach Program
These programs were suppose to be established with Retail Bank Loans loaned to the Cayman Islands Government at 5% and Home Mortgages issued by the NDHT to customers at 7%
Therefore, while the Cayman Islands Government almost suceeded in accomplishing that task of offering lower monthly mortgage repayment for affordable home ownership options, the dream of affordable home ownership is not completely lost and out of the reach of the average Caymanian.
Nevertheless, with the drying up of retail bank loans to fund government capital projects, other options are still available like issuing or floating a NDHT, CIDB or a CI Government Treasury Bond at 5% and lending mortgage loans at 8% to cover the cost of the bond issuance and the operational cost to build and fund mortgages for affordable homes
The other areas of concern for the high un-attainable Cost of Living in the Cayman Islands that comes along with Home Ownership is Home, Life and Auto Insurance; and our government has done a trimedously great job of breaking down these barriers by being financially prudent and allowing CINICO to begin offering Affordable Home and Auto Insurance
Don’t kill the goose that laid the golden egg and throw the baby out with the bath water by excluding the NDHT from issuing Fixed Interest Rate Mortgage Loans.
One of the most important decisions that our goverment have come to realize in recent times is the importance of collaboration of different government agencies and departments working together
Perhaps, now that we have two bankers in Parliment that understand banking and issuing Mortgage Loans, it might be worth while for our NDHT to raise funds via a Bond to build Affordable Homes, work with Public Works Department to build the homes, work with the CI Development Bank to manage the Bonds and the Mortgages and work with CINICO to offer Home Insurance Policies
I was talking to a Nepalese security guard. He regularly works 17 to 18 hours a day. Absolutely shocking abuse. He basically has no leisure time.
Lawmakers here have no clue. Instances like this simply shouldn’t exist. It doesn’t matter if it’s a Caymanian or another resident, it’s pure slavery in the modern meaning. It’s one of several varieties that are present in plain sight in Cayman.
…and I would bet he is not being paid time and a half overtime for every hour beyond a 9 hour day or 45-hour week, and may even be spending many of his hours guarding a government building on a juicy contract charging his services out at multiples of what he is paid.
Meanwhile retired Caymanian police officers are without employment and needing government assistance to get by.
Bermuda, which has a similar cost of living to Cayman, has a minimum wage of $16.40.
Florida is $14 per hour (Sept 2025).
$8.75 made sense a couple years ago. Today for permit workers, it should probably be upscaled to $9.75-$10.00/hr for unskilled, with a minimum guaranteed 40 hour work week, confirmation of health care, sick pay, labour rights, and a certified and inspected local accommodation that is livable (and with the freedom to come and go, enjoy time off). On this Juneteenth, it’s important to be aware of the near-slavery conditions some permit workers endure in the racks of bunkbeds in their employer permit holder’s garage. It’s unacceptable. There are thousands of permits that were issued on coordinated shams.
To 2:07pm Nothing wrong with young people working for government; it is not like everyone 16 to 25 will find a role within government in their particular field of interest, which I believe is what 7:31am referred to as “lucky”.
Agree with you that working in Government is fine in certain cases. But I think lucky to work in CIG in the Cayman context has been, decent salary, great unfunded benefits, light enough responsibility that you can run a business or two on the side.
My observation over the years has been that there are some amazing people in Gov’t that are working really hard. There are also way too many people employed in total for the level and quality of services being provided.
Two things can be true at the same time.
Building cost in Cayman is now approaching $240+ per square foot, and with land prices in excess of CI$20 per square foot, housing accommodation is a serious problem.
To build a 600 square foot one bedroom house it costs around CI$140,000 and that is before you purchase the land.
Affordable rental properties are not possible in this Cayman Environment. If you think Landlords are greedy, try building you own home.
Building costs are ridiculouslyhigh in part because of changes to our Development legislation. All kinds of fees and costs have been added over the past 25 years to make it much harder for Caymanians to build their own homes and to force them to buy from developers who buy politicians. Sad fact.
Is the implication here that the CI government fees are too high and that is what is driving up the cost of home ownership?
How does that explain the high cost of home ownership literally anywhere else on the planet?
Can’t reason with confirmation bias dumdums.
Your numbers are extremely low
Thick like a book, still trying to get my head around it? Sounds like the former labour minister. Sad.
Thick like his head.
No “easy win” here Hon. Premier.
nonsense by all concerned.
ppl on these wages are generally not complaining and are more than happy with their salaries. if they were not happy they would not be here.
Pretty sure the wage could go up to $7/hr on July 1st as planned, then be raised again after the issue is studied.
Remove duty on food and force supermarkets to pass reduce prices by 22%
at least do it on fruits and vegetables…then treble duty on meat and full sugar sodas….no-brainer!
on meat, okay sure
Allow local vertical farm produce makers to access the solar they requested!!
If Minister Myles is concerned about ‘importing poverty’ then he should increase the minimum wage. I’m not impressed by his various statements so far, or indeed his level of thinking. Let’s hope he improves.
The Importation of Poverty and Minimum Wage are two different things. The amount you have to pay a school leaver, and a foreign worker, can and should be different things. In fact, they are even covered under different laws (neither of which are consistently followed or enforced).
Fat chance of that happening I can assure you.
Now we know why all the reports from paid consultants go unimplemented and gather dust somewhere. No so much lack of political will or not agreeing with the recommendations..
Do they actually get read through?
I know what I think, and I think I know!
Taking time to assess the options makes sense but something has to be done. Finish reading the Report, Minister and try to get implement its recommendations.
The money they make in gratuities raises what they earn, no?
Oh, those famous grats that many landscape gardeners get when working on large strata properties?
Should have become pool boys instead.
At least we’re calling it as it is — tourism workers. A couple decades ago, all those positions were held by Caymanians, and their employers had to pay a living wage. Somewhere along the line we drifted from what was right and elected to pay expats a sinfully small wage, which, of course was not close to a living wage for a Caymanian family.
Why, you ask, if an expat can make it on the minimum wage, can’t Caymanians do the same? You know the answer. Expats will singularly sacrifice every human comfort for a number of years in order to send funds to their native country; in each case the exchange rate makes that money truly significant. It is often a labour of love in which expats sacrifice for their family, in order to prosper later on. The expats are necessary and not the problem. The problem is us and our policies that changed from a few decades ago.
Used to be that if our kids were lucky, they could get a job in government. Those that weren’t so fortunate started small, but worked up in the private sector and eventually, through hard work, prospered. Those options are very slim these days. We have our elderly hoping to nab some of those low-paid jobs, just to try to make ends meet.
I have hope for this new government that they will walk the walk, because our immigration regulations — while still on the books — don’t seem to be enforced in the same way as they were decades ago. I want everything to be pro-Caymanian, and I want our kids emerging from college/university and high school to have genuine opportunity.
To 7:31pm: Totally agree with you.
Kids being “lucky” to get a job in Gov’t is a terrible mindset. We need government to provide certain services, but it should be much smaller and it shouldn’t be a fat and happy job for life, or an employer of last resort for those who know someone.
Agree completely.
Good. This increase was BS.
a) Hardly any of the workers that would benefit from this increase are Caymanian.
b) Unlike anyone else, workers in “tourism” earn grats on top of wages (minimum or otherwise) which mostly takes them well above minimum wage but is inexplicably not considered “wages”.
c) Why should tourism workers get a higher minimum wage than anyone else in other industries?
The policy made no sense in the first place. Well done Michael.
I can understand tourism employees clicking the angry face, I commiserate; however, please ask yourself if increasing minimum wage will truly help you. The unscrupulous landlord will raise the rent on you the moment the wage goes up and most likely, the unscrupulous business owner or hotel you work for will lower your hours to pay you less. We all need to put our heads together to find a sustainable solution to this.
Encouraging competition in retail (specifically supermarkets) would be a more sustainable way to provide immediate relief to low wage workers in Cayman. Imagine the benefit if the big UK or US supermarkets opened here. Minimum wage hikes are a sticking plaster. They provide some initial relief but ultimately contribute to inflation and also reduce demand for labour (eliminating jobs).
“If”?? Where have you been?
A foreign affiliated mega-store has been here for years: Cost U Less.
I shop Cost U Less whenever possible.
“like a book”, that sounds really tough, hope it has lots of pictures.
everytime you increase that….cost/prices go up.
been here 25 years….still waiting for a government to come up with one proposal to reduce cost of living/doing business here….
I’m ok with marginal increases if it means we don’t have legalized slave labour. You can’t claim “He hath founded it on the seas.” and not understand we don’t want to be a nation where people can’t make their basic needs met without sleeping 4 to a room. It’s not right.
marginal my a$$,,,,,you will be the first one to complain about cost of living crisis,,,,
The increase is for Tourism Workers. 90 percent of their consumers are visitors. The companies can increase the prices for them and will have minimal negative impact on local economy.
Slavery is alive and well
20 dollars Margaritas, 6 dollars minimum wage paid by the donkey lord
Michael is making the Minister bucks now LOL, dog eat unneh supper!!
Clueless Michael Myles strikes yet again. I hope you all that voted for this bunch are taking note.
Much easier to blame expats than actually affect change!
It is likely (I hope) that CIG is going to go all-in for Caymanians, and THEN raise the minimum wage. That is, no use in making expat employment more costly, but if we train Caymanians in jobs, make an effort to mentor Caymanians, and help high schoolers and retired folk to get the lower level jobs they want, THEN we can raise the minimum wage. That is my hope and prayer.
Couple of decades ago, almost all hospitality, bartenders, clerks, waiters, were Caymanians. What happened? You don’t have to guess, you know what happened.
Entitlement culture happened
Yes. Entitlement by usually expatriate owners to ignore Cayman’s employment laws and systems – ranging from sick leave top maternity leave to minimum hours of paid employment each month, for ALL months of the year.
Give your min wage earners a raise already if you can.
It’s the right thing to do.
even if they aren’t making min wage. anything under$20 per hour is NOT a living wage.
This is the way. If you own a business that pays current minimum wage, phase it to to $8.75 before the government forces you to do so. You won’t get hassled and your employees will be better off.
Even if you don’t own a business. How many use cleaners? How many tip their cleaners or pay them a living wage? If you can afford a cleaner you can afford to pay them a living wage. If you can’t, then you should clean up after your own crap!
He is right to measure twice and cut once -and he needs to make sure that whatever the agreed minimum is (or minimums are) to be, they are available for full-time employees every hour, for (at least) a 37.5 hour week, every week, for all 52 weeks of the year. Whether or not there are gratuities, or you are on vacation, or you are on the paid element of maternity leave, or you are on sick leave. Unless that element is enforced, the madness will continue no matter what the minimum wage may be.
He is just playing politics. He doesn’t want to piss off the big boy businesses who employ minimum wage workers so he is stalling. Nothing will be done about minimum wage, they just told you that so you would vote them in.
@3:52 pm: You mean like the PPM stalled between 2017 and 2021? Come to think of it, they fumbled health care reform too…