Lindsay Mitchell
lindsaymitchell.blogspot.com
Lindsay Mitchell has been researching and commenting on welfare since 2001. Many of her articles have been published in mainstream media and she has appeared on radio, tv and before select committees discussing issues relating to welfare. Lindsay is also an artist who works under commission and exhibits at Wellington, New Zealand, galleries.
That’s what he said.
He’s a big fan of increasing the minimum wage so long as the economy is growing.
Most of the time the economy is growing. So most of the time he’s a big fan of the minimum wage.
I’m not. Why?
I go for a part-time job after being out of the workforce for 30 years so am happy to accept less than the minimum wage. Or I go for a job as a sole parent with no work experience whatsoever happy to accept below the minimum wage. Either way, I probably won’t get the chance/advantage to show my value because the employer must pay what the GOVERNMENT has decided my labour is worth with no UNIQUE KNOWLEDGE of the situation.
It’s one thing for a large company like Air New Zealand to absorb minimum wage increases, but this is a country of small to medium enterprises. People trying to get businesses off the ground need to be able to offer work based on remuneration that reflects early-days risk.
I’ve heard leftists say, if employers can’t pay the minimum wage they shouldn’t be in business. Come to think of it, that might be their argument for paying the living wage! Everyone in business is ‘rich’. Everyone who just started a doggy daycare centre or nail salon.
What New Zealand badly needs from Luxon and National is a freeing-up of laws around employment.
Not an endorsement of state control of the labour market.
Please share this article so that others can discover The BFD.