Gov’t to Spend $179.5 Billion on Wages and Salaries

The Government will be spending $179.5 billion on wages and salaries in the 2017/18 financial year, a 5.2 per cent increase over the current year.

This was announced by Minister of Finance and the Public Service, Hon. Audley Shaw, as he opened the Budget Debate in the House of Representatives on Thursday (March 9).

He said the compensation of employees has been estimated at $193.2 billion and accounts for 35.6 per cent of the expenditure budget.

He noted that this represents a reduction in the wage to gross domestic product (GDP) ratio from 9.7 per cent for 2016/17, to 9.5 per cent of GDP.

In addition to wages and salaries, the amount covers statutory deductions as well as the Government’s contribution to public-sector health-insurance schemes.

A provision of $34.5 billion has been made in the recurrent budget to meet pension payments for public-sector employees.

This is an increase of $4.3 billion over the 2016/17 Revised Estimates.

Article by: Denise Dennis
Photo from: www.jis.gov.jm