Thursday, December 19, 2013

DomPost slates WCC's living wage

The DomPost has produced a great editorial pointing out the folly of a council-led living wage:

The stated aim of Wellington City Council's living wage policy is to reduce poverty and lift workplace morale and productivity. If only life were that simple.
It is not. Poverty can no more be eliminated at the stroke of a pen than world peace can be delivered by a beauty contestant wishing for it.
More

(On the same page my letter appears which is a distillation of this post.)

4 comments:

Berend de Boer said...

Hi Lindsay, slightly relevant, have you read "Scarcity: Why Having Too Little Means So Much" and what are your thoughts on the ideas behind it?

http://www.amazon.com/Scarcity-having-little-means-much-ebook/dp/B00BMKOO6S/

Lindsay Mitchell said...

No Berend, Haven't read it. Thanks for the link.

Anonymous said...

Lindsay

Why is Living Wage calculation for NZ higher than that for London and USA, do you know?

Lindsay Mitchell said...

adamsmith, Coincidentally I just received a submission made to the council from an individual who analysed the research behind the $18.40 figure. I can forward it to you if you e-mail me dandl.mitchell@clear.net.nz

In any case, the figure was deduced based on a two parent, two children family with a fulltime and parttime worker. How many of the council employees set to receive the living wage fit that bill?