Bodden Town East MP Dwayne Seymour said that people are “suffering silently” with the “unintended consequence” of raising the minimum wage to $8.75.
Seymour, an independent MP, said that he had heard employers have been cutting back on paid hours, meaning that some people’s wages were remaining the same, while they in turn were having to pay more for help at home.
Seymour raised the issue in the first sitting of the latest parliamentary session, noting that it had been just over 60 days since the new wage rate was introduced.
The minimum wage was increased from $6 to $8.75 on 1 Jan. 2026, equal to a rise of $110 on a typical 40-hour working week. It was the first time in 10 years that the amount had been increased.
“Businesses are reducing their hours to compensate, so they’re actually almost paying the same thing,” he said. “They’re paying the $8.75, but they’re not giving the same amount of hours, so I don’t know if we’re winning in that regard, but persons out there are complaining.”
Impact
Seymour said that the increase was necessary, but “it is hitting persons whose salaries have been stagnant”.
He said that there were more than 3,000 Caymanians who were making less than $2,400 a month and would find it hard to manage to pay the increase in minimum wage for domestic help.
“I’m not sure I’m not hearing the empathy that I need to hear in terms of what persons are suffering out there,” he said.
“What we have now is a situation where there’s more money to send back home now for persons who have adapted to $6 an hour,” he added. “People are out there suffering silently. They don’t know what to do. They can’t leave their job any earlier and they can’t do without their helper.
“I can’t tell you I know what the answer is, but we have a real situation where persons really needed a minimum wage increase and now it has affected persons with an unintended consequence possibly.”
Challenges
Minister for Caymanian Employment and Immigration Michael Myles said in reply that feedback from the business community “has not been negative” and that most questions regarding the issue were concerned with the actual amount employers had to pay.
Myles said, “I do understand with some families, there’s some hardship with maintaining a domestic helper and the goal for us is to always ensure that business is expanding.”
He added that helping business grow was his main focus. “I absolutely acknowledge that there are challenges with folks not being able to afford a helper and I’m hoping that as we continue to increase business in our country, that people are being paid certainly more.”
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I strongly suspect there are many unscrupulous employers who are cutting wages and hours worked yet expectiing the same output from their employees. This needs to be looked at. The minimum wage was increased for good reason and it can’t be “adjusted” for a certain type of employer.
If people are getting their hours cut and making the same amount of money then they need domestic helpers less because they are home more. It may be the domestic helpers who are going to loose out
I don’t think this is that “unintended” versus a reality of managing a business. There are greater impacts we need to be addressing. Fuel prices are soaring. Shipping prices will be higher. Guess what? Import Duties will also benefit because they are levied on Shipping Fuel. More price pain.