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Another minimum Wage increase...

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  • 25-06-2007 8:03pm
    #1
    the_syco
    Registered Users Posts: 37,295 ✭✭✭✭


    Mods, move if this shouldn't be here...

    http://www.entemp.ie/employment/rights/Minwage2007.htm

    The wage pops up again, this time to €8.65 on July the 1st. Not much, but you have to wonder why is it going up again, so soon to the last increase? If this becomes a regular feature, the cost of basic goods in shops may rise also (so that they shops can afford to pay the staff), but wouldn't this cause the poor to loose out?


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    #2
    mikemac
    Closed Accounts Posts: 19,986 ✭✭✭✭mikemac


    If your business is struggling to meet payroll costs and you only pay minimum wage then possibly you shouldn't be in business.
    The hotel sector is one area providing tens of thousands of minimum wage jobs and I don't hear of many going bankrupt.

    Not sure of increases on goods, it will be a factor but maybe some expert here will have the figures.

    Seems a good idea to me.
    A high minimum wage and a freeze in the level of jobseekers allowance will encourage more people to work. Simplistic argument but it makes sense to me.


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    #3
    DadaKopf
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,731 ✭✭✭DadaKopf


    A high minimum wage and a freeze in the level of jobseekers allowance will encourage more people to work. Simplistic argument but it makes sense to me.
    That suits people who are looking for minimum wage work, but what about higher-skilled jobseekers who are looking for work in particular and specialised employment sectors?

    Should they have their allowance cut, and be forced to work minimum wage jobs (which they'd be over-qualified for) which takes time away from securing a suitable job?


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    #4
    the_syco
    Registered Users Posts: 37,295 ✭✭✭✭the_syco


    micmclo wrote:
    If your business is struggling to meet payroll costs and you only pay minimum wage then possibly you shouldn't be in business.
    The hotel sector is one area providing tens of thousands of minimum wage jobs and I don't hear of many going bankrupt.
    Perhaps I've explained myself wrongly: I'm not saying people will go bankrupt, I'm saying to keep the same level of profit, shops will rise their prices. Shops sell for profit, not for hte good of the country.


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    #5
    Collie D
    Registered Users Posts: 11,313 ✭✭✭✭Collie D


    Surprised at that myself so soon after the last one. I work in payroll for a company with a lot of minimum wage employees and only heard about this today through newspaper. Thought it wasn't due until November... was it planned or a recent announcement? No doubt IBEC and the SFA will be whinging again


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    #6
    heyjude
    Registered Users Posts: 1,030 ✭✭✭heyjude


    the_syco wrote:
    Mods, move if this shouldn't be here...

    http://www.entemp.ie/employment/rights/Minwage2007.htm

    The wage pops up again, this time to €8.65 on July the 1st. Not much, but you have to wonder why is it going up again, so soon to the last increase? If this becomes a regular feature, the cost of basic goods in shops may rise also (so that they shops can afford to pay the staff), but wouldn't this cause the poor to loose out?

    I don't think the big issue is the actual increase in the minimum wage itself, but the salary scale in Ireland is based on relativities, by which I mean, most wages are based on wages paid to others. So if someone is currently earning 10% above minimum wage and the minimum wage is increased, then they are going to seek an increase to retain this gap and this could feed through the economy, so that eventually workers who are earning far above the minimum wage are seeking increases to maintain their place in the salary pecking order.

    So even though the numbers actually earning minimum wage might be quite small, the numbers seeking a rise, as a result of increasing it, might be very large.


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    #7
    Fratton Fred
    Closed Accounts Posts: 26,567 ✭✭✭✭Fratton Fred


    heyjude wrote:
    I don't think the big issue is the actual increase in the minimum wage itself, but the salary scale in Ireland is based on relativities, by which I mean, most wages are based on wages paid to others. So if someone is currently earning 10% above minimum wage and the minimum wage is increased, then they are going to seek an increase to retain this gap and this could feed through the economy, so that eventually workers who are earning far above the minimum wage are seeking increases to maintain their place in the salary pecking order.

    So even though the numbers actually earning minimum wage might be quite small, the numbers seeking a rise, as a result of increasing it, might be very large.

    A call centre I use has seen a 19% increase in wages in hte ast two yars due to minimum wage inceases.

    a 19% forced increase in costs wth no increase in productivity, i'm sure the economists on here can explain what that does to inflation.


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    #8
    Colonel Sanders
    Closed Accounts Posts: 7,669 ✭✭✭Colonel Sanders


    Fratton Fred wrote:

    a 19% forced increase in costs wth no increase in productivity, i'm sure the economists on here can explain what that does to inflation.

    Was thinking the same reading this thread. A dangerous spiral to get into.


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    #9
    oscarBravo
    Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 28,792 Mod ✭✭✭✭oscarBravo


    Better suited over here? (from Politics)


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    #10
    the_syco
    Registered Users Posts: 37,295 ✭✭✭✭the_syco


    oscarBravo wrote:
    Better suited over here? (from Politics)
    Yeah. It was either Politics or AH, and Politics won (asked the guys and gurls on #boards).


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    #11
    daveirl
    Closed Accounts Posts: 14,483 ✭✭✭✭daveirl


    This post has been deleted.


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    #12
    sovtek
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,485 ✭✭✭sovtek


    Fratton Fred wrote:
    A call centre I use has seen a 19% increase in wages in hte ast two yars due to minimum wage inceases.

    a 19% forced increase in costs wth no increase in productivity, i'm sure the economists on here can explain what that does to inflation.

    Your average Irish business has been gouging regardless of wage increases so what's the difference? I'd opine it has very little to do with wage increases and more to do with cartels that exist in this country and the government that fosters them.
    I remember the owner of a popular crepe shop explaining the "island economy" to me whilst he was trying to secure a second premises(it took him over two years).


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    #13
    sovtek
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,485 ✭✭✭sovtek


    daveirl wrote:
    This post has been deleted.

    Either way the minimum wage is still below a living wage.


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    #14
    Tav
    Registered Users Posts: 111 ✭✭Tav


    This is the 2nd in this year - surely inflation will get affected.


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    #15
    eclectichoney
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,291 ✭✭✭eclectichoney


    daveirl wrote:
    This post has been deleted.


    economy-wide wages have increased round that level though, so it's only really keeping pace.

    it's not a second increase in the NMW per se - it's part of the original increase introduced in january, but the increase was staggered (just like the T2016 increases).


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    #16
    daveirl
    Closed Accounts Posts: 14,483 ✭✭✭✭daveirl


    This post has been deleted.


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    #17
    doolox
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,350 ✭✭✭doolox


    What the minimum wage does is to encourage employers to invest in technology and skills of their people rather than simply hiring more bodies to throw at a problem. In retailing I have seen a large increase in technology and new services which are increasing the versatility and hence the productivity of shop assistants and other basic grade workers.
    For example most shops now expect you to pack your own groceries and some even allow you to check your own stuff out. This is gradually pushing unskilled jobs out of our economy and replacing them with fewer high skilled jobs and lots of technology to provide the goods and services we need.
    Where it can go wrong is if people fail to upskill quick enough to take up the higher skilled jobs or if the minimum wage is increased quicker than the economy can afford. There may be a need to allow different rates of minimum wage in areas of the country where it is cheaper to live or freezes on it if it leads to inflation and non-competitiveness. All sectors such as Education, Labour, Business etc should have an input into determining the minimum wage and their findings should be made public. It shouldn't be left to one politician to decide.


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