Income Equality Aotearoa New Zealand Inc. - Closing the Gap

Simon Bridges says increasing the minimum wage will cost us at least 6000 jobs, hurt businesses and reduce growth.

Rubbish, says Peter Malcolm National Secretary of Income Equality Aotearoa New Zealand Inc. There is no research that backs Minister of Labour Bridges comments. In fact in the US and in Britain, recent research has failed to detect significant adverse employment effects upon raising the minimum wage. Some of the reasons are that slightly higher labour costs can, at least partly, be offset by lower turnover rates and absenteeism, as well as higher motivation and productivity. Minimum wage earners are also consumers, so the extra money they get from higher wages is usually fed back into the economy.

ENDS

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