THE HAGUE - A majority of the Second Chamber of the Dutch Parliament supports the proposal to increase the minimum wage and benefits on Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba by ten percent from 1 January.
The motion of D66, CDA, VVD, ChristenUnie, Volt and Bij1 asks for an increase in the minimum wage on the BES islands to combat poverty. The government has also been requested to look at raising the AOV (pension) age. The motion received the support of all parties in the Second Chamber on Tuesday, except from PVV, Forum for Democracy and JA21.
New figures from Statistics Netherlands show that the number of salaried employees on the islands fell by almost two percent in 2020 compared to the previous year. On Bonaire, the number of jobs even fell by 240.