Is this increase good enough? Will it be a living wage?

http://jablogz.com/2013/12/minimum-wage-to-be-increased-in-january-2014/

No it is not enough. Since the Chinese have taken over the Bauxite the wages have been cut in half. Absenteeism is Jamaica's greatest problem . There are very few that take their jobs seriously . If it wasn't for the working women there would be very little work done . If the working week is Mon-Fri and they think it is from Tues to sometime Thurs morning ?????? go figure. There are LOTS and LOTS of hard working women and LOTS and LOTS of not hard working men.

That's not good . But what pissed me off was the fact that we ( as foreigners ) made no more than local labour BUT !!!!!!! we were begged all the time for things . The only reason that we seemed to have more (working at the bauxite plants as welders ) is because we came to work all week and they missed atleast 2- 2 1/2 days EVERY week . It made no difference what the job was or what priority it was they would just stop work and leave . It's not much wonder the young guys watch the beach bums pick up the tourists or the hustler's rob the tourists .Western Union is the biggest part of the GNP (after ganja ) .Training is a thing that's not stressed enough.When you see 12 old boys grabbing their groins when they are walking to school in their brown outfits when a 50 year old tourist lady passes by ...I think "what kind of parent(s) do these kids have ." All you have to do is to go 1/2 mile from the tourist area's and you see the really Jamaica.It's tough