MOVING towards a living wage will create a “more resilient and robust economy”, a minister has said.
Economic Development Minister Kirsten Morel’s sought to reassure the Island’s business community in the States yesterday that support would be available following a government announcement last month that Jersey’s minimum wage would increase to £13 an hour from April next year.
The minimum wage will then be raised to two-thirds of the 2024 median wage by April 2026 – estimated to be around £14.17 per hour.
The increases are to be accompanied by a £20 million package of support measures for businesses, including £6m for the government’s productivity support scheme, £7m in the tourism and hospitality industries, £3m for training investment and more than £2m for the rural and marine economy.
In the States Chamber, Deputy Beatriz Porée quizzed Deputy Morel on what government support the government had planned for small businesses.
Deputy Morel said further information would be available “in the coming weeks”, but he added: “We have been for a number of months liaising with professional bodies in the Island… such as the Chamber of Commerce, the Jersey Farmers Union, the Hospitality Association etc to apprise them of the details so that they can inform their members.”
He added: “Certainly certain elements of the funding will be available to all businesses in the Island, and there won’t be a distinction as to whether they were a minimum wage payer before or not.
“The opportunity that arises with this move to the living wage is the opportunity to move towards a more resilient and robust economy, and we want to do that by helping businesses become more productive, and therefore taking away some of their reliance on labour, which should therefore reduce the impact of the minimum wage.”
Deputy Morel also stressed that the support schemes were “not a subsidy”.
He said: “It is grant-giving to enable businesses to become more productive”.
