Minimum wage increase a 'slap in the face'

08 Feb 2011 09:20a.m.

chris wrote:

Raising minimum wage (MW) just hurts everybody but especially low wage earners in the long run. If MW jumps to $15 then those people who have been working for a couple of years and have earned and increase to $15 would then be on MW. They then should get a rise so they are then earning same as their supervisors, they get a rise and so on and so on. The business owners are left with two choices, lay off staff or raise prises. You end up with higher unemployment, higher prises and more people on minimum wage with even less spending power. The answer is not raising MW but up skilling yourself so you become more valuable to your employer.

14 Feb 2010 03:43p.m.

Alex wrote:

If you are not a student and on minimum wage it is not the governments fault. if you want to earn more then work for it. to compare NZ wages with AUS is wrong. I lived in WA in 2006 was earning AU$1500(after tax) a week. and had no more money then i do now earning NZ$500(after tax). living costs are just so much more expencive. meat and vegtables where the same price that we pay now. we have it easy in NZ. it always urks me when i hear people complaining about 50c-$1 pay rises.

06 Feb 2010 07:22p.m.

will wrote:

Working in NZ is a joke! We pay through the nose for everything! We get treated like rubbish by our employers. We have no common sense in our dollar, we don't value it!We allow companies to ruin us financially,telephone companies for example-big ones. Enough is enough-change the rules or we leave and work overseas anyone if common sense finds somewhere better to earn nowadays. Australia is only across the ditch.