A MAJOR player in the security industry has warned that any demand for wage increase by security guards could leave many of them without jobs.

Anton Young, general manager of Kinghtsman Ltd, told The Sunday Gleaner on Friday that any decision to increase the minimum wages of security guards would be bad for the industry.

"It will not be wise for there to be an increase in salaries for security guards. If I were advising the government, I would recommend to the prime minister to put a wage freeze on not only the salaries of security guards, but also on wages in the public sector," Young said.

PNP demand

His comments came even as the opposition People's National Party (PNP) pressed its demand for government to increase the minimum wage.

Opposition Leader Portia Simpson Miller has said that the minimum-wage increase is something that government cannot afford not to implement.

But like Young, the president of the Jamaica Employers' Association, Wayne Chen, has urged government not to budge on the issue.

General concern

"There is a general concern in the security industry that with the continuous rise in price to the clients, there is a fear that any further rise will mean widescale cancellation of contracts as people move to other forms of security," Chen told The Sunday Gleaner.

The minimum wage for industrial security guards was increased from $4,700 to $5,500 in January last year. but despite trying economic times, Labour and Social Security Minister Pearnel Charles said that increasing the rates now could lead to job losses.

Young told The Sunday Gleaner that the nature of the job warrants security guards earning more "because of the risk they take; but based on the economic reality, businesses cannot afford to pay more."

Losing clients

Young added that several security firms are now losing clients as the world economic climate worsens.

"Any increase in the minimum wages for security guards would not be wise because clients would have to dig deeper into their pockets and they are not in a position to do so based on the local economic condition," Young said.

Meanwhile, Chen has argued that in some cases it's more efficient to rely on technological means to secure properties rather than to employ static guards.

"If businesses are forced to trim expenses, then they may well opt for technological (security systems) over the manual method which means so many of them would be out of a job," Chen said.