(CNS): The chairman of the Minimum Wage Advisory Committee, Lemuel Hurlston, has indicated that the mandatory basic hourly rate, which hasn’t changed for seven years, obviously needs to be increased. But he said that the committee may recommend two different new rates, a system that domestic workers and gardeners could benefit from.

The minimum wage was implemented on 1 March 2016, but Hurlston said that the rate of $6 per hour was only meant to be an introductory one. The original committee, which he also led, had recommended incremental increases once the law was in place and the community had become used to the idea of a basic wage. But the government never took up that recommendation, he said.

At the start of this year, the PACT Government formed a new committee with Hurlston at the helm once again. After several months of research, the members are now at the public consultation stage.

The MWAC has already begun a series of media appearances and is scheduled to talk to CNS on Tuesday, though at this point, the committee is not revealing the rate that think they will recommend.

Hurlston is urging people to take part in the online survey or fill in a printed version, which can be collected from public libraries in July, to have their say about what the new rate should be. And next month there will be a series of district town hall meetings where people will be able to give their feedback in person.

“The data we gather will assist us in making the best possible recommendations for the Cayman community as a whole,” Hurlston said.

It is already apparent that the committee believes the current rate is inadequate. Hurlston has said that when the original committee recommended the $6 per hour rate, most jobs here were already paying at least that amount and very few employers were impacted. He explained that the committee had recommended such a low rate to allow for gradual incremental increases.

Hurlston said that the Economics and Statistics Officer’s “starvation level wage” is currently considered to be around CI$6.50. This means that the legal basic rate of pay is not protecting low-paid workers since anyone in Cayman being paid the minimum wage cannot afford to meet their basic needs. The good news is that almost all workers here are earning more than $6.50 an hour.

But in the face of inflation and the pressing need to raise the minimum wage, the committee must also consider the ability of small businesses to pay staff and still stay commercially viable, and for families to pay the wages of carers for their children or elderly dependents.

Hurlston said that there is the capacity in the wider business community to pay staff more but that an increase would affect some small struggling businesses.

The 16 members of the MWAC are due to complete their work and submit a report to the government at the end of September.

The public is invited to take the survey.

To follow the public consultation campaign, visit the Minimum Wage Cayman Facebook page or on Instagram at @minimumwageky. The MWAC can also be contacted via email at minimumwage@gov.ky.

Watch out for more on the minimum wage next week on CNS.