Jap chick says minimum wage in Japan does not make life easier.

[pillowtalk]

I often get asked: “Do you have minimum wages in Japan?

And when I reply “Yes”, the remark that follows is: “That’s great! That is what Singapore really needs!”

I hear this quite often but hey, do you really know what you are wishing for? In a lot of countries, having minimum wages do not make your life easier. In fact, you might suffer more when it happens.

Let me talk about my hometown, Hokkaido. (Different prefecture has different minimum wages in Japan) Our minimum wage per hour is 734 JPY/hour, which is about 9 SGD/hour. And in some dangerous industries like construction and manufacturing, it’s even 50-100 JPY higher. Sounds not bad, right?

If your employer pays you less than this, they get serious punishment.

This is the kind of money you earn if you work in restaurants, retail outlets, call centers and administration offices. Workers’ law says you cannot make your employees work more than 40 hours per week, therefore you will make around 29,360 JPY/week if you work full time. It’s about 127,716 JPY (=1583 SGD)/month.

Here comes the interesting part: Minimum wage pays a lot less than “Social Security Income” (Japan’s welfare payout) you can get from the government (when you cannot find a job or not in the condition to work).

According to our law, monthly Social Security Income is calculated according to “the minimum standard to sustain your life”. Now, Social Security isn’t a breeze. You cannot use air-conditioning during the summer (I have learnt of a beneficiary who died because of this rule) and sometimes government refuses to pay you because you had 4kg of extra rice in the kitchen.

Do you get the idea of how “minimum” the minimum standard is for Social Security Income? Yeah, it’s really minimum.

So how much can someone receive from Social security income in Sapporo (capital city of Hokkaido)? These are some examples:

Single (age of 68):

80,820 JPY (=1,002SGD)/ month + subsidies on your rental



Couple (age of 68, 65):

121,940 JPY (=1,511SGD)/month + subsidies on your rental



Family of 3(age of 33, 29, 4) :

175,170 JPY (=2,171SGD) /month + subsidies on your rental



Single mother(age of 30) with 2 kids (4, 2):

193,900 JPY (=2,403SGD) /month + subsidies on your rental



Do you see? Our minimum wage is lesser than this Social Security Income! And Social Security is supposed to keep you alive and not to starve yourself.

Does it sound silly if I ask if you’d rather work and get less money or just be unemployed and apply for Social security income?

Until last year, this conflict was seen in 11 prefectures in Japan. After the efforts of unions and activists, they raised the minimum wages for 15 JPY/hour average, so only Hokkaido has this loop-hole now. But still, this figure does not prevent you from starving.

Why doesn’t minimum wages help people live a better life? The answer is very simple.

When you pay everyone “enough”, this sudden pay raise will drive the cost of end-products through the roof, and guess who else but YOU, the consumer, would have to bear this cost.

Prices rise, the low waged worker again can’t afford it: it is a vicious cycle. The benefits of minimum wage is then neutralized.

Look at Singapore. You know how little money foreign construction workers and domestic helpers earn, right? What do you think would happen if they start earning minimum wages alongside Singaporeans who are working behind desk and air-con?

Do you think you can still afford the buildings they build? Do you think you can still afford to hire a domestic helper?

And….. there’s one more thing you should know. When you have minimum wages in Singapore, your employer will be very happy to have the excuse to keep your wage to the minimum.

No matter how much you complain, your employer will smile at you and say something like this:

“I am paying you more than minimum wages. So what’s your problem?”

http://bit.Iy/1bnRAvk

 

[Leongsam]

That's exactly what I have been saying from day one regarding the "minimum wage" concept.

This is what happens in NZ.

1. The mimimum wage is raised by by $1.50 per hour.

2. All those who are on the minimum wage get a wage rise. They are now on par with those who were getting $1.50 more than the minimum wage.

3. Those who used to be $1.50 higher than the minimum wage now want a $1.50 pay rise too so organisations have no choice but to increase the wages of most hourly rated staff by $1.50 to maintain the differentials established before the pay rise was implemented.

4. A few months later, businesses will use a rise in the minimum wage as a reason to increase their prices. Councils do the same thing and raise conservancy charges. The chain effect raises prices across the board.

5. After a year or so of price rises, those on a minimum wage find that they are back to square one as far as purchasing power is concerned. The unions then start clamoring for another increase in the minimum wage to prove that they are championing the rights of the downtrodden.

6. By this time, the elections are usually around the corner and the opposition starts promising the nation that they will raise the minimum wage by $2 if they are voted in.

7. The circus show continues forever and nothing changes.

 

[Cestbon]

Demand and supply. We dont need minimun wage and also keep FT to minimun. Meaning no FT maid/FT worker. Those want employ FT worker regardless WP/SPass/EP/maid will have to pay $1k~$1.5k levy per month then SG do noy need minimun wage. Then market will adjust by it self.

 

[3_M]

Without minimum wage, we are already the most expensive cities in the world. Those countries with minimum wages enjoy far cheaper cost of living.

 

[Leongsam]

Without minimum wage, we are already the most expensive cities in the world. Those countries with minimum wages enjoy far cheaper cost of living.

That's because there is no room for expansion.

 

[singveld]

Even kids would understand mini wage does not help the local poor.
But the mad dog clone making opposition supporters, still cannot get it even when they are adults.
they just go around the website and copy and paste toilet photos and spam anti pap messages

they want social welfare? i asked them if they can take it, if the bums who does not work get more money from a working person in low wage or worse more than them. Can they accept it? Or the opposition supporters have a family full of bums, in that case, that will benefit them indeed. They get elected and they spread the money to their relative. Just like PAP but to different people.

 

[laksaboy]

Be careful of those who incessantly post content from Five Stars And A Moon (FSA2M), and the usual folks who continue to demonize the minimum wage.


http://thehearttruths.com/2013/06/0...-defamatory-article-on-five-stars-and-a-moon/

 

[chonburifc]

Even kids would understand mini wage does not help the local poor.
But the mad dog clone making opposition supporters, still cannot get it even when they are adults.
they just go around the website and copy and paste toilet photos and spam anti pap messages

they want social welfare? i asked them if they can take it, if the bums who does not work get more money from a working person in low wage or worse more than them. Can they accept it? Or the opposition supporters have a family full of bums, in that case, that will benefit them indeed. They get elected and they spread the money to their relative. Just like PAP but to different people.

Tua kang yao siu, still retain your job arh? When you lose your job to ft shits har?

 

[The_Hypocrite]

for the jap case. the problem is not with the minimum wage but with social security. minimum wage must be set higher than social security if not work for fuck?

 

[palden]

Look at the welfare side. Here we are screwed.

 

[chonburifc]

Paiseh to say. The word is not minimum wage. I only pay above market reasonable rates to my staff. My four years in biz, only 3 out of 40 left. Last 2 year, only 1 left. I want to terminate one chow angmoh staff work permit this month, as he ask for unreasonable t&c. Guesswhat? He paid me a visit few days back and told me forget everything he said. It's a fucking 9 page memo. angmoh. In the end, he accepted my explainations. And I continue his work permit.

Remember, it's all about fairness. Who can bring in more money for company, who is good. Limpeh don't care if chow angmoh or shit skins or stinkees. As long as can make money for limpeh. They good. Cannot make money? Then limpeh recomend these useless mother fuckers to go stinking land. For their own good. Only stinking land like to keep shit.