August 1, 2024, marked a seminal moment and a new beginning for Saint Lucian workers and pensioners.
Minimum Wage, Maximum Impact
Building on the tenets of the late Sir George F. L. Charles, whose life’s work and commitment to working-class Saint Lucians led to historic legislative reforms, the people-first policy actions implemented by Prime Minister Hon. Philip J. Pierre and the Government of Saint Lucia are extending on that great legacy.
The minimum wage milestone was guided by the Minimum and Livable Wages Commission (The Commission), established in 2022 under this administration.
The Commission, together with local private sector leaders and employers, held consultations to determine the initial minimum wage rates.
Subsequently, the minimum wage has been revised to $1130 monthly, or $52.00 daily or $6.52 hourly.
The new minimum wage will increase the salaries of nearly 13,000 people. Each of these individuals will be financially better off than before Prime Minister Pierre came to Office.
On August 1, 2024, the country’s first-ever minimum liveable wage legally came into effect.
Effective October 1, 2024, eligible employees can look forward to a change in their salaries. The new minimum liveable wage will ensure no worker in Saint Lucia makes less than the revised rates.
The transition period, until October 1, allows employers to adjust their practices to ensure full compliance with the new regulations.
 Increase in Monthly Pension Payments Take Effect
Recognizing the importance of a dignified retirement, the Government of Saint Lucia has also addressed the needs of pensioners. With limited spending power, higher consumer prices can erode the standard of living for so many retired Saint Lucians whose efforts advanced the development of our country.
In June, the Prime Minister moved a motion in Parliament to amend the Pensions Act, which guarantees an increase in monthly pension payments for government pensioners to $725.
Subscribing to the government’s renewed efforts to empower more Saint Lucians and strengthen their spending power, the National Insurance Corporation (NIC) decided to increase monthly pension payments to $500. 3,438 NIC pensioners will benefit from the increased monthly payments.
The Government of Saint Lucia is working to improve the standard of living for working-class Saint Lucians by using people-first policies to ensure ordinary Saint Lucians always have a fighting chance.
SOURCE: Office of the Prime Minister
Well done PM Pierre, if all the monies ww received during Covid were used for the poor people we would never had to implement the2.5% levy on St. lucians.
Financial freedumb more like it. $1.00 today can buy you only 15% of what you bought in 1980. That means “your” money saved in your pension plans and NIC is of very little value now. $500 pension. LMAO. LUCELEC: $150. WASCO: $40. FLOW: $200. That leaves $100 to eat. NIC is a scam and ponzi scheme, plain and simple.