More than 70 per cent of respondents to last week’s caycompass.com online poll think the Cayman Islands should have a minimum wage.
Of the 650 total respondents, 456 of them – 70.1 per cent – favoured a minimum wage.
“It’s a matter of morality,” said one person.
“It’s the right thing to do and will be good for the economy,” said someone else.
“Of course Cayman should have a minimum wage, but we shouldn’t just pull a number out of a hat,” said another respondent. “This should be adjusted every few years and people that earn gratuity can be exempt.”
“At the end of the day, everyone should feel appreciated and personally I think it is shown through the value that employers place on their employees,” commented one person. “Unfortunately with minimum wage the unemployment figure will be higher. However, it is needed.”
“Perhaps then business owners would have to start hiring Caymanians instead of hiring expats to avoid paying qualified Caymanians the wages they deserve and need to survive with the cost of living being so high,” said someone else.
Several people said if there were to be a minimum wage, the same wage should apply to everyone.
“For anyone working on the Island, everyone should be entitled to the same human rights,” said one person. “No one man is better then another or more entitled based on the colour of his skin or the origin of his birth.”
“It should be fair for all workers in Cayman,” said another person. “Most importantly,it should be fair for Caymanians, and this is coming from an expat.”
The second largest segment of respondents – 115 people or 17.7 per cent – said Cayman should not have a minimum wage.
“There is no minimum or maximum price on anything else,” said one person.
“There’s no need for a minimum wage,” said someone else. “Immigration just needs to stop approving work permits for jobs that pay peanuts.”
“Raising wages also raises the cost of everything, which ultimately makes Cayman less attractive to international customers and thereby cancels out any temporary benefits to the people the minimum wage was designed to help,” said another person. “It would only result in a spiral of inflationary pressures.”
“The free market sets the equilibrium between wages and jobs,” commented one person. “Setting a minimum wage as in the USA simply reduced the number of jobs. A business person will hire a marginal person at the market rate. If the market rate is fixed, he will not hire an extra person until his productivity pays for the higher wage. A really bad idea anywhere in the world. Don’t fall into this socialistic trap.”
Forty-one people – 6.3 per cent – thought there should be a minimum wage, but only for Caymanians and 20 respondents – 3.1 per cent – thought there should only be a minimum wage for expatriate workers.
“If there were a minimum wage for expats, then maybe employers would pay enough for Caymanians to take the jobs,” said one person.
Eighteen people – 2.8 per cent – responded ‘I don’t know’ to the question.
Next week’s poll question
What aspect of downtown George Town aggravates you most?
Too many cruise tourists
Lack of parking
Too few restaurants
Too much noise from the cargo operations
Not pedestrian friendly enough
Other
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I agree with Kerry Tibbitts the minimum wage should be 10 Cayman is way too expensive for us to settle for a measly % per hour.
thanks to Mr. Ezzard miller, but the minimum wage in a rich country such as the Cayman Islands should be no less than 10.
Nothing less than 10 minimum wage will do in this expensive destination called the Cayman Islands.
Cost of Living is ridiculous.