Re: Employers Should Shut The Fuck Up. Cannot Pay n Exploit, Don't Say We Dont Want J
So how do we apply the minimum wage rule? Singaporeans are not just salaried workers but in significant cases are employers themselves.
If we follow one forummer's suggestion of applying $5/hr across the board, which I think is reasonable btw, then we can argue we are on our way to proper market rates.
But the flip side is your hawker fare is going to go up as the hawker will have to pass the increased labour cost on to the customer. That is just one example.
Increase in salaries = Increase in cost/prices
Take domestic maids for instance, pay them $5/hr and you are likely to end up having to pay $2000+ per month on her salary. How popular do you think this move is going to be with the Singapore household?
If you impose minimum wage the ultimate winners are going to be the toilet cleaners, road sweepers, domestic maids, low/semi skilled prc and bangla labourers. In short, jobs Sinkies shun. The biggest LOSERS are going to be middle class Singaporeans as they have to fork out the increased cost of having to pay for services they refuse to do themselves.
for a start, the govt can reduce the costs associated / stemming from it.
1. e.g. lower the pay of the civil service.
the stat boards are still giving more than 1 months' bonus when the private sector is slashing wages, doing more drastic stuff.
ministers drawing salaries comparable to Obama - to govern a little red dot not even half the size of the US.
and we have so many mayors, my goodness me.
we don't even have to get started on the case of the alleged 8month bonus for a certain CDC staff.
gst is 7% - why cannot lower this? because the govt needs the $?
2. hdb prices
in a span of 3-5 years, i have seen the prices of hdb units being sold first-hand by the hdb gone up by at least 20%.
this works out to annualised increase of at least 6% p.a. .
did inflation in S'pore hit 6% p.a. ?
i dont think the CPI ever hit that.
so does it mean that the hdb is attempting to increase its profit margin?
i don't know what else to call it.
3. min. wage
biggest loser are not just the middleclass.
biggest losers = those who refuse to do or learn DIY skills.
if anyone refuse to learn or do the simplest of things, the alternative would be to pay someone else to do it, simple logic.
if u cannot or do not want to pay, then just learn and do it yourself.
who knows, maybe this might just solve some of our overdependency on the maids.
4. back to your "hawker fare" example
hint: to whom do the hawkers (at wet markets, in particular) pay their rental + misc other charges to ?
your examples, i think, treat singapore as a closed economy.
i see singapore as an open economy - with artificial inflation - caused by extra cost layers (some of which are imposed by and can be adjusted by, the government / administration).