The Government of St. Vincent and the Grenadines will for the second consecutive year, increase civil servant salaries and adjusts the income tax thresholds to benefit all workers.
In his 2024 Budget presentation (Monday 8th January 2024) Minister of Finance Camillo Gonsalves said Civil servants in 2024 will receive a 2 percent salary increase, on the heels of the 2.5 percent they received last year.
“Next year, they will receive a further 2.5 percent hike. You may recall, Madame Speaker, that we also raised public sector wages in 2018, 2019 and 2020. As will be discussed elsewhere in this Speech, the standard deduction on personal income tax will be raised again this year, from $22,000 to $25,000.65. Budget 2024 therefore ensures that all public servants will be paid more, and all workers will keep more of their salary this year,” said Minister Gonsalves.
“In last year’s budget speech, we indicated that “Government has. . . convened a Wages Council, to analyse minimum wages and make recommendations.” As such, on the initiative and effort of our Minister of Labour, the Honourable Saboto Caesar, the Government has decided to significantly increase minimum wages this year. As a matter of policy, we have determined that no full-time worker in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines should earn less than $1,000 per month, and no full time daily paid worker should make less than $50 per day. In some extreme cases, these increases will result in increases of up to 75 percent for monthly-paid workers and 56 percent for full-time, daily-paid workers, relative to the previous minimum wages. In most cases, however, the increase will be around 20 percent. Apprentices, interns, and other similar categories, including YES volunteers, will receive no less than $40 per day or $800 per month,” indicated Minister Gonsalves.
This is the Government’s fourth adjustment in minimum wages, following increases in 2003, 2008 and 2017. It is expected that the increase in minimum wages to create upward pressures on all wages, as concerns about wage distribution compression cause employers to consider the compensation of people who previously made slightly above the minimum wage thresholds.
