More than 50,000 government employees in Guyana are seeing their salaries increased by a minimum 45% in a five-year period. The group includes teachers, police, firemen, and soldiers.
The salary increases started in 2021 after the new government took office. Supported in part by growing oil revenues, the administration increased salaries by 7% in 2021, 7% in 2022, and 6.5% in 2023. The government this year reached agreements with unions to tack on another 10%, and 8% in 2025. In addition to the pay hike that is expected to be applied this month, the workers will also get a payout as the 10% boost is applied retroactively all the way back to January.
The 45% compound impact of these five increases is the minimum increase a government employee will get. The government has announced various other measures to boost salaries and allowances for people with seniority and advanced degrees. It has been trying to use the country’s oil-fueled economic momentum to address the root causes of decades of brain drain.
Critical groups like nurses have been leaving in droves even in recent years for higher salaries in the United States and other jurisdictions. President Irfaan Ali said in July that the government’s salary hikes for nurses and teachers in a few years will see them earn enough to rival the jurisdictions they have been leaving for. Back in 2022, the government announced major pay hikes for healthcare workers, including 36% for doctors, 52% for nurses, and 75% for midwives. As it works to win back migrating nurses, the administration has moved to fill the gaps with imported labor from Cuba and Bangladesh.
With oil revenues growing, there is pressure to give proportional salary increases. Teachers went on repeated strike action this year before their union and the government agreed on multi-year packages similar to that of other government employees, and a further agreement for a minimum 9% raise in 2026.
This year, about US$1.6 billion in oil revenue contributed 29% of Guyana’s national budget. Next year, oil revenue spending is on track to expand by nearly half and could contribute a greater share of Guyana’s expanding infrastructure-heavy development plans.
Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo has said the government must engage in cautious budgeting, considering the country’s many competing needs. He said the government must not go on a spending spree with its oil revenue on recurrent expenses. The evolution of government spending since withdrawals from the oil fund began, indicates its main focus is on roads, bridges, schools, hospitals, and utilities like electricity and water. Starting in January 2025, the government said it will eliminate tuition at the University of Guyana, as well as all technical and vocational public schools.
