Chairman of Public Accounts Committee (PAC) and Member of Parliament (MP) for East Honiara Douglas Ete says there is no living wage if we assess the salaries of people formally employed in Solomon Islands.
He said this during the PAC meeting last Thursday.
Ete was speaking in front of the reps from the Central Bank of Solomon Islands (CBSI) who attended PAC hearing last week Thursday.
He said if CBSI need to revisit the Ministry of Commerce, Industries, Employment and Immigration (MCIEI) on prices of imported goods not captured in the inflation rate, it would be good to bring out the issue of minimum wage as well.
He said disparity of wages or salaries in this country are worse than any country in the pacific.
Ete said salaries in Solomon Islands do not have living wage, which means 20% of what being earned from pay days can be saved and that is called living wage.
He said this does not exist in Solomon Islands because salaries earned by people working in this country are far from the level of income, which 20% can be saved.
Thus, he said CBSI must check with the minimum wage which was dealt with by ministry of commerce to see how we can address the problem of living wage.
By AATAI JOHN LAUNGI
