Will minimum wage laws work here?

[lilith]

What the hell does the "in line with productivity and results" mean

 

[brylimme]

One of the issues with allowing the market to run its course is that it will be vulnerable to market failure. One such scenario will be where firms underpay their workers, especially the low skilled.

In economics, if firms underpay workers, it contributes to allocative inefficiency and deadweight loss. The reverse whereby workers are overpaid also holds true.

Our current situation is such that low skilled workers are severely underpaid, so much that they have difficulty coping with surviving on such meagre salary. By implementing a minimum wage, it ensures that the low skilled workers are not being exploited, and that the market is Pareto efficient.

will a minimum wage lead to unemployment though? because employers now cannot afford to pay. i don't want my favourite hawker to close down if he cant hire anyone to help him.

 

[Dr.KongHee]

they won't go with it one. becoz if so workers won't be cheap any more and all the CASH COW will be send back to their beloved country.

 

[fury89]

lol ... so many govt monopolist in the economic and still tell us free market ? free his si lang tao lah

minimum wage should be implement carefully mainly on lower skill jobs to prevent those low skilled and lower educated people from getting exploited as they have lower bargaining power.
i am pretty sure at this point of time most of them are underpaid rather than overpaid of their market wages

 

[Empiricism]

will a minimum wage lead to unemployment though? because employers now cannot afford to pay. i don't want my favourite hawker to close down if he cant hire anyone to help him.

Based purely on economic theory (philips curve in particular), yes.

However, it is generally agreed that higher wages will lead to increased disposable income for workers. With higher disposable income, workers will spend more, hence increasing economic activity.

With heightened economic activity, firms will require more labour supply, which results in more workforce participation rate.

Outside of economic theory, there are empirical evidences that minimum wage in fact benefits the nation as a whole. I hope I don't have to give examples of successful countries with minimum wage systems, there are plentiful.

 

[iloveahmeng]

MINIMUM WAGE should be enforce into those jobs that are hiring local retirees.
Companies like the gas stations, fast food and cleaning contractors offer very low pay and mininal cpf contribution for these retirees.
Their mthly take home pay range about 500-700 minus their transport and food...they are really living for day to day expenses with nothing left at the end of the day.

i really admire these retirees who work because they do not want to add burden to their kids families.
Our garment must really help especially these sector of our aged citizens.

 

[standarture]

Unfortunately, the greedy nature of us will just raise prices to combat minimum wage. You just have to pay more.

 

[dark_aLLeY]

then everything should be subject to free market forces as well



for example, employment passes should be subject to open bids from companies.

the highest bids that are offering the highest salaries get the permit.

Great idea.

 

[dillion]

singapore logic berry simple one

NO PROFIT = BAD
no need tok so much

if minimum wage and social welfare gave the government any profit.
They would flip prata faster than Tony Tan running 2.4

 

[uncle168]

minimum wage protects the working class

it prevents the exploitation of blue collar workers

it sets a wage level to support a respectable living for the poor

initially it might be difficult to find the wage level to set minimum wage but after some time when the level of minimum wage is raised progressively, it will improve the lives of blue collar workers and boost domestic consumption as disposable income increases for the poor

actually Singapore already has a informal minimum wage of S$1,000 for the cleaning sector

i don't really like the foreign labour levy and wage supplement scheme as it make people feel that they are useless and depend on the government for handout

the fact that now Singapore is home to the most number of millionaires means there is strong demand for the services sector which means much more room for minimum wage to go up

i expect minimum wage in Singapore to be around S$2,000 by 2020 and S$3,000 by 2030

they will slowly move towards minimum wage because the shortage of workers is now a global issue because of an ageing population and delclining birthrate

 

[Zimpleman]

Unfortunately, the greedy nature of us will just raise prices to combat minimum wage. You just have to pay more.

How true, u'd jus categorize our Big Companies, GIC, Temasek n d MNC n etc. profits wif out hindrance. I shud say u r a genius, where hav u bin hiding all tis time. Hav a great day.

 

[Rokusaburo]

in short, all the greedy bosses will not be able to afford their luxury goods if minimum wages is implemented lar.

Aiya simple lor instead of hiring 2 people at $1000 each, better to hire 1 person, pay him minimum wage, and let him do 3 people's jobs

 

[Meireles]

will a minimum wage lead to unemployment though? because employers now cannot afford to pay. i don't want my favourite hawker to close down if he cant hire anyone to help him.

So u admitting its all abt u la isit? So as long as u gt to eat what u want, u dun gv a shiat abt e underpaid employees?

 

[brylimme]

lol ... so many govt monopolist in the economic and still tell us free market ? free his si lang tao lah

minimum wage should be implement carefully mainly on lower skill jobs to prevent those low skilled and lower educated people from getting exploited as they have lower bargaining power.
i am pretty sure at this point of time most of them are underpaid rather than overpaid of their market wages

agree with you that many people in the lower rung of society are underpaid and def should get more but isn't that what progressive wage is helping with as well? because $1K might be a good place to start with for cleaners like what was quoted in the news today but say for other sectors like nurses for instances - how do you determine the "minimum wage" as $1K when they should maybe be paid higher.

the progressive wage model on the other hand is like minimum wage for various sectors - so isn't that kind of the same thing but more comprehensive?

 

[brylimme]

personally i feel minimum wage is too simplistic. it just ends there. minimum wage doesnt solve problems. i do believe that progressive wage is better because it combines minimum wage PLUS helping them move up a ladder. minimum wage = okay you are at $1K good luck now survive. progressive wage is - you are at $1K, now you should go for training so you can move upwards and get more $ when you have higher productivity. i dont see anything wrong with it per se.

 

[brylimme]

So u admitting its all abt u la isit? So as long as u gt to eat what u want, u dun gv a shiat abt e underpaid employees?

not true. well, it isnt just about me, it's about everyone because businesses WILL increase prices and i dont want that. if im a business i'll be more than happy to give a pay raise if the productivity corresponds with it. im being practical here.

 

[msboy]

MINIMUM WAGE should be enforce into those jobs that are hiring local retirees.
Companies like the gas stations, fast food and cleaning contractors offer very low pay and mininal cpf contribution for these retirees.
Their mthly take home pay range about 500-700 minus their transport and food...they are really living for day to day expenses with nothing left at the end of the day.

i really admire these retirees who work because they do not want to add burden to their kids families.
Our garment must really help especially these sector of our aged citizens.

if you are the boss, currently you hired local retirees cause there is lack foreign worker quota and also some government benefits to hire the old.

now with your suggestion to implement minimum wage to these local retirees, these companies will go back to hire the young, cheaper and energetic chinese or indians. currently, my work place hires tonnes of cleaners from china, as well local 50-60s aunties. If you were to believe me, the local aunties are the root of all problems. they complain everyday, bad attitude, MC non stop, demand shift swap, boss their foreign colleagues around. On the otherhand, we do have a handful of nice local aunties, and these are the ones we are looking to promote to supervisors first than the hardworking foreigners.

the arguments for minimum wage is endless, there's good and there's bad. I'm more inclined towards market forces depicting wages.

 

[Meireles]

In theory it sounds very good. Simi go for training , productivity will rise. Same as in games lor, go training, skill lvl increase. But irl leh?

 

[dark_aLLeY]

personally i feel minimum wage is too simplistic. it just ends there. minimum wage doesnt solve problems. i do believe that progressive wage is better because it combines minimum wage PLUS helping them move up a ladder. minimum wage = okay you are at $1K good luck now survive. progressive wage is - you are at $1K, now you should go for training so you can move upwards and get more $ when you have higher productivity. i dont see anything wrong with it per se.

minimum wage means ... eg. u got some cert, exp, skills, attitude etc, market rate is $1500. Employer should pay u at least $1500/mth for your qualification, skill etc. If you're ambitious, u can further upgrade, or clock more skillsets to get promotion, increment.


w/o minimum wage, boss tell u 1 word, "$900/mth... take it or leave it! Ai lai, mai suah".


limbei ish been there, done that.

 

[blong]

Unfortunately, the greedy nature of us will just raise prices to combat minimum wage. You just have to pay more.

That would be an illusion. In an open market, if the prices are too high, there will be corrections.