New HK minimum wage policy spurred local demand and jobs creation, against prediction

[makapaaa]

06-09-2012 02:51 PM#1 sbee1

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<DL class=userinfo_extra><DT>Join Date</DT><DD>Dec 2010</DD><DT>Posts</DT><DD>120</DD></DL>

[h=2]New HK minimum wage policy spurred local demand and jobs creation, against prediction[/h]

Hong Kong’s Minimum Wage: What Impact on Jobs and Pay?

June 7, 2012 § Leave a Comment

Ominous predictions of a tide of restaurant closings and job loss in Hong Kong after the implementation of a wage floor had fallen flat.

In August 2011, three months after Hong Kong’s Statutory Minimum Wage (SMW) took effect, restaurant operators lamented a shortage of workers. Some had to pay an hourly wage of 30 to 50 Hong Kong dollars, above the wage floor of 28 Hong Kong dollars, to hire dishwashers, kitchen helpers and servers. Despite higher overheads, the number of eateries grew by 500 to 15,000 from the end of 2010 to August 2011. The expansion of fast food conglomerates, in particular, was the most evident. Greater number of vacancies in the industry, moreover, saw fewer takers – on average, there was only one applicant for every three to four job openings.

In early days, economists proposed that a minimum wage would cost jobs, especially in a competitive labor market. From the 1980s onwards, economists began to present countervailing empirical evidence showing that the minimum wage has no obvious effect on the level of employment, or that it may even contribute to higher employment.


full article:
http://singaporearmchaircritic.word...ngs-minimum-wage-what-impact-on-jobs-and-pay/​

 

[Cruxx]

Re: New HK minimum wage policy spurred local demand and jobs creation, against predic

No self-respecting economist would make the absurd prediction that the minimum wage would cost jobs. Only brainwashed Sinkies with scant regard for empirical evidence would do that.

 

[wMulew]

Re: New HK minimum wage policy spurred local demand and jobs creation, against predic

No self-respecting economist would make the absurd prediction that the minimum wage would cost jobs. Only brainwashed Sinkies with scant regard for empirical evidence would do that.

Minimum Wage Matters
Increasing the minimum wage may not help low-wage workers

Unfortunately, little data existed to support either side, until now. Recently, a Kellogg professor helped to build a model that gives an unexpected answer to the question in one particular type of situation: the service sector that employs minimum-wage workers who depend on incentive payments as part of their earnings, such as servers who receive tips and retail employees and sales staff who work on commission. In these cases, the model strongly suggests that everyone—employers, customers, employees who lose their jobs, and even those who stay—ends up in a worse situation when the minimum wage increases.

We show the increase will reduce the level of service, hurting customers,” says Jeroen Swinkels, a professor of Management and Strategy at the Kellogg School of Management, who developed the model in collaboration with Ohad Kadan, an associate professor at Washington University, St. Louis. “You end up with a smaller number of workers, and even those workers who keep their jobs are less happy, because they’re forced to work harder for less attractive incentive pay. The surprise is that it’s a lose-lose-lose situation—even for people who keep their jobs.”

http://insight.kellogg.northwestern.edu/index.php/Kellogg/article/minimum_wage_matters

 

[BuriramUnitedFC]

Re: New HK minimum wage policy spurred local demand and jobs creation, against predic

minimum wage proposal in Thailand drew flak also

 

[Baluku]

Re: New HK minimum wage policy spurred local demand and jobs creation, against predic

Min wage? The other day i saw a report saying sgpilans are willing to take a paycut to keep their jobs.

 

[Cruxx]

Re: New HK minimum wage policy spurred local demand and jobs creation, against predic

Minimum Wage Matters
Increasing the minimum wage may not help low-wage workers

Unfortunately, little data existed to support either side, until now. Recently, a Kellogg professor helped to build a model that gives an unexpected answer to the question in one particular type of situation: the service sector that employs minimum-wage workers who depend on incentive payments as part of their earnings, such as servers who receive tips and retail employees and sales staff who work on commission. In these cases, the model strongly suggests that everyone—employers, customers, employees who lose their jobs, and even those who stay—ends up in a worse situation when the minimum wage increases.

We show the increase will reduce the level of service, hurting customers,” says Jeroen Swinkels, a professor of Management and Strategy at the Kellogg School of Management, who developed the model in collaboration with Ohad Kadan, an associate professor at Washington University, St. Louis. “You end up with a smaller number of workers, and even those workers who keep their jobs are less happy, because they’re forced to work harder for less attractive incentive pay. The surprise is that it’s a lose-lose-lose situation—even for people who keep their jobs.”

http://insight.kellogg.northwestern.edu/index.php/Kellogg/article/minimum_wage_matters

I said empirical, didn't I? A model is an observation of reality or a simulation? I can build a model of Earth now on my flat-screen monitor, run some simulations and conclude unequivocally that the Earth is flat. The reality is that Australia and Luxembourg have two of the highest minimum wages in the world and their respective unemployment rates stand at 4.9% and 5.2%.

 

[eatshitndie]

Re: New HK minimum wage policy spurred local demand and jobs creation, against predic

the article is bs as it doesn't account for the hundreds of thousands of foreign workers who are exempted from the hk$28 per hr minimum wage policy. foreign domestic helpers, as they are officially called in hk, already have fixed minimum wage at hk$3,740 a month, or hk$19.48 per hr based on 24 days per month and 8 hrs per day, or hk$15.58 per hr based on 30 days a month and 8 hrs per day. most wage analysts would agree with the latter as most domestic helpers work more than 8 hrs per day with sundays off or one 24-hr rest period per week. the more accurate formula is 3740 / 26 / 10 = 14.38 per hr.

nonetheless, hk already implemented minimum wage for fdh prior to 1999, and it was reduced on two occasions from 1999 to 2003. it was only in 2007 that a paltry amount of hk$80 was raised per month. in 2008, it was raised again by a pitiful amount of hk$100 per month to adjust for inflation and increased cost of living.

what is not widely publicised is the presence of two large hordes of cheap labor in hk: foreign workers not in the fdh category and migrant workers from the prc. both categories feed the need for cheap labor in hk, and they are not subject to the hk$28 per hr minimum - a reason why sme's, restaurants, and small businesses feel little pressure of a minimum wage crunch. they simply resort to large available pools of cheap, eager labor outside the minimum wage jurisdiction.

meanwhile, hongkongites or hongkies can feel good socially about their minimum wage policy. it doesn't contribute one good shit to their economy. same thing will happen in sg.

 

[Cestbon]

Re: New HK minimum wage policy spurred local demand and jobs creation, against predic

Malaysia,Thailand 3rd world country gov is better than SG gov. They had min wage.
SG should have min wage base salary $1000/month not included benefit and OT.
In 5 year should increase to $1200.
Those base salary less than $1200 if u voting for PAP then dont KPKB.