Leadership salaries in public service
THROUGHOUT JAMAICA’S independent history matters connected with compensation for members of the legislative and executive branches of Government have attracted controversial reaction. This was the case in 1972, 1990, 2003, and again in 2023.
This is understandable. There is a general view that, measured across decades, Jamaica has underperformed vis-à-vis our peers. This underachievement is seen, first and foremost, as the underachievement of the legislative and executive branches of Government over time. Some therefore have viewed the political directorate as completely undeserving of improved compensation. Other members of the public experience doubt as to whether improved compensation will actually lead to improved outcomes for them. And though some express comfort with the elevated levels of pay, they would like this to be accompanied by greater levels of accountability. These are all reasonable concerns.
Salaries of cabinet ministers have been benchmarked to the salaries of permanent secretaries for the better part of 50 years. Since about 1986, the framework pegged the salaries of ministers at “$52 dollars per annum above the maximum of the highest level permanent secretary”. And pay for members of parliament has tracked 62.5 per cent of the cabinet minister’s pay since 1990. In updating ministerial and parliamentary pay, the existing framework, which has been used for 37 and 33 years, respectively, has simply been applied to the new central government salary scale. To understand the movement in pay for the political directorate, therefore, one has to understand the underlying movement in the benchmark central government salary scale.
The entire central government and public service salary scales have been revised in the context of the broader restructuring of public sector compensation. Among other things, this exercise incorporated insights from the market study, that compensation for the senior levels in the public service was the most depressed as compared to the Jamaican market. This is consistent with anecdotal observation. If we fail to retain the most promising public servants to eventually serve in leadership we all lose. Public sector leaders in the civil service, and across professional groups, are responsible for making consequential decisions that affect the public and all the employees within their organisations. They allocate significant financial and human resources, they make strategic choices and they process copious amounts of information. Having the right persons in leadership across the public sector can make a substantial difference in the attainment of targeted outcomes, even with the same level of national resources.
DRAMATICALLY BELOW
However, levels of pay for the leadership across the administrative public sector have been dramatically below what is required to retain the most competent public servants and interest them in leadership opportunities and/or to attract external candidates.
The politics (common “p”) of addressing this reality has always been challenging and explains why this nationally self-defeating status quo has persisted. Prior to now, we have subordinated the long-term good to fear of distorted shortterm optics. That cannot continue. Our collective vision for Jamaica can only be realised if some of the most talented and promising young persons our education system produces see public service as a viable first choice career option. If Jamaica is to succeed, the public service must also be attractive enough to allow lateral recruitment of accomplished private citizens, across diverse fields, into positions of public sector leadership.
As such, the salary scale for permanent secretaries, who manage budgets of up to $150 billion, moved from $7.4 million-$9.26 million as at April 2021 to $15.8 million-$21.2 million as at April 2023.
There have been similar movements across public sector leadership.
For example, for secondary and primary school principals, at the largest schools, the starting point on the scale has moved from $2.9 million and $2.4 million, respectively, to $8.5 million and $7.0 million, respectively.
The starting point in the salary scale for the highest three, of eight levels, in the nursing profession has moved from $2.6 million, $3 million and $3.6 million to $7.3 million, $8.3 million and $9.3 million, respectively.
The starting point in the salary scale for the highest three of six levels for non-executive legal officers has moved from $3.4 million, $4.1 million and $4.9 million to $6.8 million, $8.3 million and $10.1 million, respectively.
Space does not permit a full account here but the point should be clear. There has been a material adjustment in net compensation for the leadership across the public sector even after factoring in the absorption of relevant allowances. This information is all publicly available on the Ministry of Finance’s website or through a simple Google search of “new public sector compensation in Jamaica”
At the same time, it was morally necessary that the restructuring provide much improved compensation for those at the lowest end of the salary scales.
As such, the salary scales for over 5,000 weekly paid ancillary and artisan staff have moved by 60 per cent – 300 per cent. For instance, the entry-level ancillary salary level in Government has moved from $9,781 per week to $16,481 per week. The supervisors in the ancillary ranks, and the most skilled artisans, have moved from a starting point of $13,714 per week to $47,656 per week.
FOR THE JOBS
In undertaking a public service wide adjustment to compensation, which has no precedent in Jamaican history, we established salary levels for the jobs, not the personalities who may occupy the jobs today. Rather, it is about the quality and experience that Jamaica will be able to attract and retain in positions of public sector leadership over the long term.
With compensation that is more aligned with the level of responsibility of the job, the bargaining power of the employer, i.e. the public, will be greatly strengthened, which if properly used, will deliver much better governance over time. With these adjusted salaries for the political directorate, in particular, there will have to be improved standards and greater accountability.
There will be a demand for better performance too. The next phase of compensation reform involves implementation of a fit for purpose performance management system. We have committed to work with our union partners to have this ready for the public sector in April 2025.
It is indeed the case that the salaries for our political directorate will be higher than corresponding salaries in CARICOM countries. It is also true that Jamaica is the only country in the region to have implemented a public sector wide compensation restructuring and Jamaica’s permanent secretary pay scale also exceeds regional counterparts. Jamaica has taken a deliberate decision to invest in the human capital of its public sector.
Some ask, how can salary arrears now be afforded for politicians in 2023/24 when the position was that arrears for other groups needed to be paid in 2022/23? As previously explained, it is a matter of scale. We could not afford to carry over $40 billion of unpaid arrears, relating to last year, into this year. For parliamentarians and ministers the aggregate 2022/23 arrears are much smaller, and in fact not comparable, and therefore manageable.
Others ask, how could you have said there were no more resources available for other groups and now politicians enjoy this adjustment? Again, this is answered by reference to materiality. The adjustment for parliamentarians and ministers represents approximately 0.6 per cent of the first year cost of the reform. Put another way, if the entire amount of the adjustment allocated to parliamentarians and ministers for the first year was reallocated to all other public sector employees this would have resulted in an upward adjustment of maybe $400 per month, before taxes, across the public service.
The job of the politician is ruthlessly demanding. It is also of consequence. Politicians make material decisions that affect millions of lives for a long time.
Analysis of raw data available from Parliament suggests that there have been 309 members of parliament since 1972. Up to 2023, the median parliamentary tenure has been eight years, and the average, 9.98 years.
For most of those who enter Parliament, consistent with what a system of government “of the people” should be, Parliament has not been a lifetime assignment.
Our country’s future is best assured by having a system that more qualified and experienced Jamaicans find attractive and financially feasible to offer themselves for political service for at least some portion of their careers. That way, Jamaica wins.