Athaliah Reynolds, Staff Reporter

A fresh fruit vendor in Middle Quarters, St. Elizabeth, checks to ensure that all her produce are fresh and ready for customers. - File

Though many Jamaicans have responded favourably to the recent increase in the national minimum wage, most are adamant that this will have little or no effect on low-income earners.

Come Monday, January 28, the weekly rate increases from $3,200 to $3,700, reflecting a 15.6 per cent rise. The minimum wage for industrial security guards moves from $4,700 to $5,500.

However, most of the individuals The Gleaner encountered in the Corporate Area on Wednesday said that, with the current rate of inflation, which stood at 14 per cent for the calendar year to date, it is near to impossible for an ordinary worker to survive on minimum wage.

Supplementing earners

This rang true for even those who were making above the $4,000 mark.

Streetside vendor Miss Mavissaid she earns $5,000 weekly from selling fruits and snacks at her stall on North Street, Kingston.

The 66-year-old mother and grandmother, however, said most of this goes back into replenishing her small business. To add to her earnings, she also sells phone cards.

She told The Gleaner that she spends at least $3,000 a day to restock her stall.

Buying groceries

Mavis lives with her three-year-old grandson - who she sends to school at a cost of $1,000 a month - and her 28-year-old daughter, who is confined to a wheelchair and unable to work. To feed her family, she spends at least $5,000 a week on groceries.

"It very hard," she lamented. "Sometimes I wonder how I don't go mad. Is only the grace a God keeping me sane."

Mavis explained that she now has no water at home, as her service was recently disconnected for non-payment of bills. "We just can't afford it. The bill reach about $30,000 and they cut it down to $12,000 and I still can't pay it," she said.

Chicken back out of reach

Eighty-year-old Lucille Wright, also a vendor on the streets of Kingston, told a similar story.

"Not even chicken back we can't buy again. That a rich man food now," she told The Gleaner. Even though she makes far more than the minimum wage, at least $7,000 a week, "that is when business good."

Ms. Wright said she was barely surviving.

"I go to town with $3,000 every day to buy goods for my business, plus, I spend $3,000 a month on light and I have to buy food for the house," she said.

"You don't mek a profit. You work to buy goods and yuh just live from hand to mouth."

Name changed

athaliah.reynolds@gleanerjm.com