Minimum wage policy
There was an article I read on the minimum wage policy today. It debates the effects of minimum wage policy on the job market and generally, economists dislike this policy.
Theoretically, for an employer to pay $15.50 an hour (the Australian minimum wage) the employee needs to be bringing $15.50+ of value to the business every hour they work; else the business would be unprofitable. The problem is that a good proportion of the population struggle to bring that much value, so they can’t get employment that they would like. The best examples of this are apprentices and the inexperienced (like myself). It takes time for us to learn the tricks of the trade and refine our skill to the point where customers are willing to pay for our services.
Interestingly most people do find work and the policy causes high wages. Combine this with our strong currency and we Australians have a high standard of living that is the envy of many International countries.
This is why many people strongly believe in minimum wage policies.
But contrastingly we have so many ‘cash in hand’ jobs, which don’t consider Australian minimum wage.
Strikee 