The promise by the Caricom heads that there will be freedom of movement of bonafide residents (or is it citizens?) of Caribbean member states has been received with a certain amount of both calculated welcome and equally calculated trepidation by prospective employers, who warily expect a flood of small islanders upon passage of the legislation.

The welcome is not always a beneficial and kind-hearted one, but one from thrifty-minded entrepreneurs who expect then to be able to employ trained personnel often now difficult to find at affordable post-covid rates.

The ones who are looking forward to a flood of trained and technical people arriving (now difficult to find at those post-covid rates), but are aware of TT labour legislation in detail, are expecting problems in accommodating such people within the purview of the law, casting a wary eye on penalties for employers who ignore the existing legal standards, and wondering about possible future ones as government takes advantage of new taxpayers.

Government claims to need the money and is about to bring in the new property tax, which is going to take a slice off businesspeople's incomes as well, isn't it? So you never know.

Just so no one is under any illusions about a free lunch, however, it is as well that prospective employers are aware of the reality employers face.

It might be useful to consider the benefits workers face, by law:

The minimum wage, currently $17.50 an hour for an eight-hour day, time and a half for overtime and, if they have to work on Sundays and public holidays, double time. Then, for the larger, unionised manufacturing companies, shift bonus and cost of living allowance. Depending on where one is employed, if it applies, there may be height allowance and heat allowance.

But the cost to employers doesn't stop there. For all workers there is workman's compensation insurance to pay, again by law; mandatory vacation leave - the employer must pay the employee two weeks' full wages at a minimum (if they are lucky enough to get a job in the public service, that can go up to five weeks per annum as time goes by).

Then there is "sick pay,' a misnomer for payment during illness, which is ordered by law, which also starts at two weeks if you have a doctor's certificate, which is easy to get, but most doctors charge $200-$400 per office visit and there's the cost of medicine on top, so don' forget to walk with change. Public servants don't have to pay that, of course.

Then the employer has to pay, as well, the employer's contribution to national insurance, which escalates as the years pass and wages rise.

There are 16 paid public holidays in TT, not counting the two Carnival days, which are not public holidays, but everyone takes them anyway, or, if they work, either overtime, or days off in lieu, so add those.

Did I mention leaves for which only some employees are eligible? Maternity leave, for example, of 13 working weeks, is statutory. Which is 13 weeks every two years, for women only, and a possible additional two week