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Experts: Haiti minimum wage increase not enough, but raising it could mean job cuts

The Haitian times
www.haitiantimes.com 
By ONZ CHÉRY

haitiprotest HT
A textile worker chanting an anti-government slogan to demand the minimum wage to be increased to 1,500 gourdes during a Feb. 10 protest. Eleven days later, the government announced that textile workers’ minimum wage will only be raised from 500 to 685 gourdes, leaving factory workers still unsatisfied. Photo credit: AP/ Odelyn Joseph

CAP-HAITIEN — It is a lose-lose situation, the way the experts explain it.

Haitians cannot live off the country’s minimum wage, even if the government goes through with plans to raise it by an average of 54%. So, textile workers are still demanding an increase to 1,500 gourdes per day, or $14.44, and are back on the streets protesting. However, if the government were to raise the minimum wage, some businesses would cut jobs to lower expenses, experts and some business owners said.

“There’s nothing without consequences,” said Michaëlle Paraison, a member of the Haitian Association of Economists (AHE) based in Port-au-Prince. “You can’t just adjust salaries without first checking employers’ financial statements or we will never get to a just salary.”

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