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Here's something I wasn't aware of.. NZ was the first country to enact a Minimum Wage Law, way back in 1894.

Being a bit of an economics student in my past, I see some problems with raising the Floor Price for Labour.

From Minimum wage - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A mainstream economics analysis of supply and demand implies that by mandating a price floor above the equilibrium wage, minimum wage laws should cause unemployment.[12][13] This is because a greater number of workers are willing to work at the higher wage while a smaller numbers of jobs will be available at the higher wage. Companies can be more selective in those whom they employ thus the least skilled and inexperienced will typically be excluded.
According to the model shown in nearly all introductory textbooks on economics, increasing the minimum wage decreases the employment of minimum-wage workers.[14] One such textbook says:

\"If a higher minimum wage increases the wage rates of unskilled workers above the level that would be established by market forces, the quantity of unskilled workers employed will fall. The minimum wage will price the services of the least productive (and therefore lowest-wage) workers out of the market. ... The direct results of minimum wage legislation are clearly mixed. Some workers, most likely those whose previous wages were closest to the minimum, will enjoy higher wages. Other, particularly those with the lowest prelegislation wage rates, will be unable to find work. They will be pushed into the ranks of the unemployed or out of the labor force.\"[15]

wow, I didnt know that !!

I always did think New Zealanders were a forward thinking bunch though !!!


[QUOTE=kall;bt130]Here's something I wasn't aware of.. NZ was the first country to enact a Minimum Wage Law, way back in 1894.

Being a bit of an economics student in my past, I see some problems with raising the Floor Price for Labour.

From [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minimum_wage]Minimum wage - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/url][/QUOTE]