NZ First signals on wages divisive
The special votes are in, and NZ First is confirmed as the main player in coalition talks.
The party’s leader, Winston Peters, has signalled he wants to raise the minimum wage to $20 per hour, but business experts are conflicted on what that could mean for jobs.
Speaking on TV3’s The Nation on Saturday morning, Northern Employers and Manufacturers Association senior manager Kim Campbell said wage growth needed to be matched to the economy.
‘‘You’ve also got to think about if you put everybody up 25 per cent, what happens to the people who are already on $20 an hour, and the ratcheting effect that is going to have,’’ he said.
Campbell said raising the minimum wage could lead to job losses.
‘‘Our instincts are let the market decide that. So we’re not disagreeing on the what, we’re disagreeing on the how.’’
But Council of Trade Unions economist Bill Rosenberg said it was realistic and would have minimal effects on employment.
‘‘I think it’s ambitious,’’ he said. Campbell objected and said New Zealand had one of the world’s highest minimum wage rates.
Rosenberg said we also had some of the lowest unemployment rates.
‘‘I think also the other way to look at rises in wages is that it actually provides an incentive to employers to raise productivity, and one of the big problems that New Zealand has is very poor productivity,’’ he said.
‘‘One of the problems with the minimum wage is that it only affects the people right at the bottom.
‘‘The next 50 per cent are not getting anything like those wage rises, nothing like what the top 10 per cent are getting.
‘‘So we actually need to do more than simply raise the minimum wage.’’
Sustainable Business Council executive director Abbie Reynolds said her members were conflicted on the issue of wages.
‘‘A lot of them have taken steps to raise their minimum wage to about $18.50, because they think that’s the wage that allows the people who work for them to live with dignity.’’
All three panellists were happy to wait for a Government to be formed because they were focused on long-term change.
But there was no doubt business would be affected by NZ First policies.
Campbell said he liked the party’s manufacturing policy and stance on supporting the regions.
‘‘He’s got some ideas there that work. We disagree with the way he wants to go at immigration,’’ Campbell said.
‘‘Both Winston and National have to curb their most extreme instincts or they’re just not going to find a common ground.
‘‘Winston tends to be rather more interventionist. He has a very conservative social agenda. And so the combination is what counts.’’
Rosenberg said NZ First had positive long-term views on changing the direction of the economy and he wanted to see the next Government focus on New Zealanders who have been left behind in the past nine years.
‘‘It also has some quite positive policies ... dealing with the problem of casual employment.
‘‘You have an economy where a whole lot of people are missing out, where we’re neglecting the environment, then ... the economy won’t function well.’’