PAYING PEANUTS
Regarding the minimum wage debate, there are two possible effects on employment numbers.
Those on the right say jobs will be lost as employers can’t afford the wage bill. Those on the left believe if low wage workers are given a rise in income this will be spent on services and products, increasing demand and therefore increasing jobs without the need to increase prices.
There is no consensus on what in reality happens and we can’t know the employment affect until years afterwards. There will be some jobs lost and some gained. It is reasonable to assume that retail food and other essential retailers will benefit from increased turnover whereas high ticket items will not initially.
Manufacturers of everyday products will also benefit from increased sales offsetting the increase in wages.
In a region such as Northland, with a high proportion of workers on low wages, this increase is a major boost to the local economy albeit captured in the main by supermarkets, The Warehouse and liquor outlets.
The enemy of small business is the large corporates, not the minimum wage. The morality of paying peanuts to those at the bottom must be a concern to all, due to the down stream effects of increased crime, drug and alcohol consumption, mental health, diminished parenting and resentment of employers. I believe the wage hike to $20 has been a long time coming. For a lot of people their main wage earner barely earns enough to pay for rent and power.
Some people have had no wage increases for eight years and have struggled on low wages.
That didn’t stop food prices from increasing so that even to buy the basic things like milk cheese and eggs are getting far beyond some peoples’ price range. Even fruit and vegetables are far too expensive.
Rent has increased over the years and buying a house is beyond many peoples’ range.
With a wage increase people may have more money to spend and will spend it locally so businesses won’t miss out. They are dead right, not only the prices but employment and transport.
Who’s going to pay? Not those