The minimum wage will increase by 50c to $13.50 an hour from the start of April.
Labour Minister Kate Wilkinson said the ‘increase strikes the right balance between protecting low paid workers and ensuring that jobs are not lost during these tough economic times.”
Training and new entrants’ minimum wages rose 40c to $10.80 an hour.
The government has consistently resisted calls to hike the minimum wage up to $15 an hour, saying it would lead to around 6,000 job losses.
Today’s hike comes a day after government figures showed average hourly earnings rose 2.8% to $26.59 and hour in the 2011 calendar year. This was made up of a 2.8% rise in private sector wages to $24.58 and a 3.2% increase in public servant pay to $33.86 and hour.
There are however those who believe the price increases are not enough.
The Council of Trade Unions (CTU) secretary Peter Conway said that while he welcomes an increase, it falls well short of the $15 an hour minimum wage that has widespread public support, and increasing the minimum wage by a mere .50c will not significantly address growing concerns of poverty and inequality.
“This minimal increase to the minimum wage will not help low income households who were hit hard by the increase in GST, and not compensated adequately by tax cuts that favoured those on higher incomes,” says Mr Conway.
“The government has missed a chance to help rebalance this equation and put more money in the pockets of low income families.”
Comments and questions
Unfortuneately you cannot guarantee someone a living and you cannot tell a market what it is going to pay.
Remove the minimum wage completely and treat it as on the job training of work habits, experience and aquiring skills.You wont stay at minimum levels for too long. Otherwise condemn more youth to stagnation and watching mum and dads TV all week.
super......O.K.
You realise children don't actually go up chimneys to clean theme any more, eh?
The young people I know made brushes for cleaning chimneys and squeeges for cleaning windows.
They go around the neighbourhood asking for work, build up a run, provide a service, save and invest in themselves via education and small business.
They have a no-one owes me a thing attitude. They are thrifty and move to the work. Employers recognise their attitude and seek to employ them.
The minimum wage is removing the ability to make a start. If a young man or woman has any nous they do not stay at the starting point for very long.
A minimum starting rate is just that – a starting rate. People with motivation and the right attitude towards ensuring their employer’s business best interests are always put first, never stay on the minimum starting rate for long. Up-skilling yourself leads to increased opportunity to move beyond the starting point – but it does take personal responsibility – something Labour Party members find distasteful – an individual taking personal responsibility for their actions / situation.
Sure, cleaners and other manual workers don’t get anywhere near the pay of a CEO – but neither do they have the work load, stress, responsibilities and likely the training / education achieved to reach that level of role either – so if you’re on a minimum wage and want more – it requires some effort to increase your education and worth to a potential employer – or they could always educate themselves as to how to start and run their own small business - but once again, this takes some personal effort and responsibility!
Besides – there’s no such thing as real poverty in NZ – only poor spending choices. Talk to me about poverty from the slums of India or Bangladesh and I’ll listen. Talk to me here about poverty and I’ll tell you about those some households with Sky TV, smokers, drinkers, gamblers, who often eat fast food and don’t bother growing their own food. With all the welfare assistance NZ offers to families, it’s not that NZ has a poverty issue – only parents that breed beyond their means to support their dependants, who worsen their situation by poor spending priorities. Sky TV, alcohol and cigarettes are NOT essential items to be spending children’s lunches on.
For all those who bleat every year about getting the minimum wage to $15, do you want to pay $6.50 for 2 litres of milk? Or perhaps $2.50 for a litre of petrol? Business owners who employ minimum wage staff, like supermarkets and service stations, cannot absorb labour cost increases without putting their prices up. So everyone pays more for goods and services, including the very people on minimum wage. No one wins from a minimum wage increase, as any increase is swallowed up by price rises.
Absolutely bang on target.
exactly. exactly. exactly.
And, if Key, Liarbour and any other political "party" (as that's all politics is - a party) had any morality - in their crocodile care about rising prices, in the same breath as they bleat on about the harsh realities (positive or negative) about the minimum wage - THEY'D ALL CALL TO SCRAP THE EMISSIONS SCAM BECAUSE OF IT'S DIRTY, BACKGROUND, IMPACT ON RISING PRICES.
Most commentaries seem to have glossed over the issue at the heart of a minimum wage. What about todays cost of living?
While there is an argument increasing prices drive up the prices supermarkets and petrol stations have to charge, how is that a bad think?
The public will turn to purchasing their groceries at farmers markets (supporting smaller businesses, where the profits stay local) and public transport (which will reduce NZ import of oil).
Increasing the minimum wage works well when much of your essential needs are controlled by monopolies. Its a form of tax for overseas companies that own these monopolies. How can that be bad for NZ inc?
How about I employ your children for $2 an hour? They get some useful training and some skills. I save some money. Everybody's happy. Whaddya say?
How about I employ your children for $2 an hour? They get some useful training and some skills. I save some money. Everybody's happy. Whaddya say?
When the cleaners go on strike and nobody steps in to do their work NZ comes to a stand still. Trust me. The cleaners do more important work than the CEO, but nobody is prepared to recognise this uncomfortable fact and pay them the true value of their work. That takes courage and leadership. CEOs are expendable and many prove to be incompetent. The work cleaners do is absolutely ESSENTIAL to NZ. The NZX has been in a bear market for 25 years and is now about 70% below its all time high in 1987. Most companies are eventually destroyed by their CEOs and executives and many have done just that to a lot of companies that were once household names. The NZX barometer indicates how woeful our overpaid executive class truly is.
"Shaun, it's your boss here. Look, we need to cut costs and I was wondering if you could take a hit for us. Would you mind working for us for $10/hour gross for the rest of the year? If you can't, well, let's just say I've got a couple of eager young guys willing to work for $8. What do you think? Have a wee think about it son. See you Monday."
You cannot tell the market what to pay but NZ has almost half the adult population receiving what they think they deserve. No relevance to the market or ability to pay at all.
We even borrow $350 million a week to keep that scenario in place
You all have made some good points, I'm a USA native, sounds like the same things we have happening here.
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