Dis Shanmugam clown is now a labour market expert?
Bwahahaha he is already not performing in his own area
That farking Contempt of Court Bill is way overdue
Low productivity MiniSTAR doesn't justify his own wage
Let's hear it from a real labour market expert
Not just any but one who has won the Nobel Prize
Sinkieland's Shit Times won't enlighten you in this way
Instead it gives you tonnes of GAHBRAment bullshit
Minimum wage can benefit Hong Kong, says Nobel laureate
PUBLISHED : Monday, 09 December, 2013, 4:50am
UPDATED : Monday, 09 December, 2013, 5:39am
Benjamin Robertson
[email protected]
A well-structured minimum wage can have a positive impact on Hong Kong and should be encouraged, says Nobel laureate Christopher Pissarides.
In an interview with the South China Morning Post, Pissarides also warns against rising debt levels in China, drawing parallels with the troubled euro zone and his native Cyprus.
"I am supportive of a minimum wage because of the encouragement that it gives to young people in particular, and older and not well-qualified people who feel they might be exploited," he says.
A specialist in labour market theories, Pissarides says the challenge is to find a level that protects workers without discouraging hiring. He recommends a starting level equivalent to 40 to 45 per cent of the average wage.
In the United States, the level is too low "and does not provide the security it needs to provide", while in France, at about 55 per cent of median income, it is "discouraging employers … and creating unemployment".
The Hong Kong minimum wage remains a contentious issue between employers and unions since it was introduced in 2011. Originally set at HK$28 an hour, it was raised to HK$30 in May. Unions wanted HK$35.
According to the Census and Statistics Department, the average monthly salary in June was HK$13,982. Assuming a 48-hour work week plus meal times, a worker earning the minimum wage would take home HK$6,240 a month - within the framework suggested by Pissarides.
The hourly rate should then be "pushed up until you reach the point where you are putting at risk job creation and then leave it there", he says.
Pissarides is in Hong Kong in his capacity as visiting professor at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. He won the Nobel prize in economic sciences in 2010.
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http://www.scmp.com/business/econom...age-can-benefit-hong-kong-says-nobel-laureate
Wow, suddenly all the PAP IBs and MiniSTARS are labour market experts
Notwithstanding their own low productivity and overblown wages
Ooi, Ah Neh Shanmugam, where is the way overdue Contempt of Court Bill
Maybe a coalition without Lightning can do a much better job
Minimum wage on way for Germany with Merkel set to agree compromise
PUBLISHED : Friday, 22 November, 2013, 3:39am
UPDATED : Friday, 22 November, 2013, 4:50pm
Agence France-Presse in Berlin
Chancellor Merkel will compromise on pay issue to pave way for coalition, but will insist on her own 'red line' demand of no tax rises
Germany is set to introduce a national minimum wage, Chancellor Angela Merkel said yesterday, giving in to a core demand of the centre-left party with which she hopes to form a coalition government this year.
The concession was cheered by France, which has - along with the United States and the IMF - urged Europe's biggest economy to boost domestic demand and restore the lopsided trade balance of the export powerhouse.
"This is a signal ... of an approach that may be more co-operative within European economic policies," said French Finance Minister Pierre Moscovici, reiterating the need for a euro zone "rebalancing".
Merkel - who has argued that a minimum wage will hurt businesses and force them to lay off workers - said she would have to give in on the issue as a compromise in the ongoing coalition talks with the Social Democratic Party (SPD).
"The Social Democrats will not conclude negotiations without a universal legal minimum wage," she said in Berlin.
Merkel said she and her Christian Democratic Union (CDU) would "try everything to prevent the loss of jobs through this measure" and insisted that in return, her party would insist on its own "red line" demand of no tax rises.
She argued that fiscal discipline and balanced budgets help maintain investor confidence and global competitiveness and added that "Europe's problem is that we've promised almost everything so far and have kept very little of it". Merkel won September elections, but fell just short of a governing majority, forcing her CDU and its Bavarian partners the CSU to enter into tough coalition talks with the SPD, which both sides aim to conclude next week.
In the talks, SPD chief Sigmar Gabriel, Merkel's likely future vice-chancellor, has insisted on the introduction of a nationwide minimum wage of €8.50 (HK$89) per hour to help Germany's growing army of working poor.
Germany has a jobless rate of just 6.9 per cent. But, according to the DIW economic institute, 5.6 million Germans, or 17 per cent of the workforce, now earn less than €8.50 an hour, especially low-skilled and part-time workers.
The SPD has promised to put any coalition deal up for a vote to its sceptical party base, many of whom do not want their blue-collar party to govern in Merkel's shadow, but whose consent would be needed.
Merkel's party favours separate pay deals by industrial sector and region, arguing a national minimum wage would harm many small and medium-sized businesses and could force them to lay off workers.
"The fixed minimum wage ruined East Germany," said the state premier of eastern Saxony-Anhalt, Reiner Haseloff, referring to the former communist government. "We must not make the same mistake."
Currently, a patchwork of pay deals has set minimum wages for a dozen industrial and service sectors, including cleaners, electricians and security guards.
Merkel urged compromises on both sides to forge a coalition government before Christmas.
"I, too, will have to consent to measures I do not innately agree with," she said, pointing to the minimum wage as an example.
She said a grand coalition was "not the heart's desire of politicians", but had resulted from the election outcome.
She said: "The voters have neither given an absolute majority to the business wing of the CDU, nor the left wing of the SPD. Only both of us together will have the ability to govern."
http://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1362430/minimum-wage-way-germany-merkel-set-agree-compromise