{"id":259099,"date":"2025-11-23T17:42:33","date_gmt":"2025-11-23T21:42:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/?p=259099"},"modified":"2025-11-23T17:42:35","modified_gmt":"2025-11-23T21:42:35","slug":"letter-the-average-antiguan-does-not-make-5000-a-month","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/letter-the-average-antiguan-does-not-make-5000-a-month\/","title":{"rendered":"LETTER: The Average Antiguan Does\u00a0Not\u00a0Make $5,000 a Month"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Dear Editor, <\/p>

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I was genuinely taken aback by a claim in the recent Throne Speech stating that the average Antiguan earns $60,000 a year \u2014 or $5,000 a month. This pronouncement is easily debunked through simple observation and lived experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Government Salaries Undercut the Claim<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The government is the country\u2019s largest employer, yet very few civil servants take home even $3,000 a month. When I left the public sector as a degree holder making $3,650 a month, many colleagues considered my salary enviable. Several who had been in the service far longer were earning under $2,000.<\/p>

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Teachers \u2014 often among the better-paid government workers \u2014 earn approximately $2,500 if untrained. And even they frequently express dissatisfaction with their pay. Their repeated industrial actions over unpaid arrears are evidence that $5,000 salaries are far from the norm unless one is a principal.<\/p>

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2. Clear Signs of Financial Distress<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The lived reality of many public servants contradicts any notion of widespread financial comfort:<\/p>\n\n\n\n