What to pay??

Link to larger map.

Our Cape Town, South Africa blogger, Peter Taylor, wants us to talk about how wages should be distributed. 

Peter Taylor 

Which system is better: Minimum wage or supply and demand?


In my country there was once no minimum wage. It was a free labour market system. You earned what someone was prepared to pay you. Then the government introduce a minimum wage. Employers were not permitted to pay below that minimum. We went from almost full employment to something like 40% unemployment. Small businesses closed by the hundreds. Fewer and fewer employed people earned more and more. The government has been trying to fix the mess ever since by giving exemptions to small businesses.

That was what I meant: Is minimum wage really a good idea?

To embellish on this idea a bit, in the U.S., I believe it’s called “hourly” versus “salary” wages.  Talk about your feelings on how employers should pay people.  Have you been both an hourly and salaried employee?  What was your experience with such.

(Posted for Peter Taylor and PrimalSoup)

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