I think when determining if a minimum wage is too high or too low it depends on if the minimum wage is supposed to be something that people are supposed to make a living off of. If the minimum wage is supposed to be livable wage then the increase is probably not enough considering the high cost of living in a place like Seoul:
Members of a labor union for part-time workers protest for a higher minimum wage in Seoul last month. (Yonhap News)
Four subway rides, a newspaper and packet of cigarettes, or one Big Mac: That is what a minimum-wage worker can buy after an hour on the job, and have change of a couple of hundred won. The minimum hourly rate of 4,860 won, due to rise to 5,210 next year, amounts to 1.08 million won a month for a 40-hour work week. Differences in purchasing power make comparison between countries difficult, but the nation’s rate ranks on the low end of the scale among wealthy nations. In 2011, just eight of the 23 OECD countries aside from Korea had a lower hourly minimum. Many of those countries with higher rates, however, also have significantly higher GDPs per capita. Nonetheless, whether the current wage is reasonable depends very much on who you ask. Neither employers nor labor groups expressed satisfaction with the most recent increase for 2014, the former having called for an outright freeze, the latter a rise of more than 21 percent.
“It is very hard to pin down whether the minimum wage is high or low. It is somewhat relative,” Woo Seok-jin, an economics professor at Myongji University in Seoul, told The Korea Herald. “We have some minimum living standard costs, and the minimum wage should be determined based on that level.”
Whether the current rate meets such a standard is a matter of debate. Park Jeong-woo, a 20-year-old music student at Seoul National University of Arts, has worked numerous minimum wage jobs such as a convenience store clerk alongside his studies. Even though he avoids rent by living with his parents, he still finds the current rate to be out of synch with the rising cost of living. [Korea Herald]
Only communists support government-mandated wages. Everyone should decide the price they’re going to sell their time… No room for slaves…
Tyson
8 years ago
>The minimum hourly rate of 4,860 won, due to rise to 5,210 next year
When was this article? The minimum wage 2016 is 6,400 won per hour.
I see that the article is from 2013. The wages have been rising in double digit growth since 2013. This gives enough time for businesses to adjust.
@Tyson, good catch on the date. For some reason the Korea Herald had that article linked on to their front page.
ChickenHead
8 years ago
Yeah… that minimum wage got my attention. I thought I was overpaying.
Setnaffa, I have written often against minimum wage… but I am starting to change my tune.
Because illegal aliens are flooding America, minimum wage does not reflect the American market value of labor… jobs that should pay more get by paying “minimum wage”.
Further, due to welfare programs, it becomes a sort of corporate welfare… big companies pay unreasonably low wages and let the welfare system pick up the slack for people to actually live.
While I believe a higher minimum wage hurts the middle class and small business more than it affects big business and the rich, I am starting to wonder if forcing big companies to pay a living wage is a good idea.
It may remove the benefits of hiring illegal aliens and it may get the working poor off taxpayer support.
I’m also in favor of garroting and hanging traitors (including those who knowingly hire or shelter illegals) in gibbets for the sport of the crows. The illegals themselves would save themselves by self-deporting.
Allowing wage and price controls is a Stalinist tactic, also practiced by Nixon before he was welcomed by the Red Chinese.
No, if a business is forced to pay minimum wage, all employees are “human resources”, not individuals paid on merit.
“Further, due to welfare programs, it becomes a sort of corporate welfare… big companies pay unreasonably low wages and let the welfare system pick up the slack for people to actually live.”
The welfare system is broke on the employee side also when employees who are collecting welfare benefits (food/cash/section 8/free childcare etc.), refuse to work extra hours because if they make more than is allowable, then their welfare benefits can be reduced or cut-off. Years ago, I had employees turn down promotions because they would lose money overall! I would tell them that welfare is supposed to be temporary and not a permanent way of life.
@setnaffa, I don’t know if you have ever been to Australia, but I would not call that country Stalinist and they have a $17.70 minimum wage. Plus in Australia they have a national healthcare program which means people can live on a minimum wage job and not depend on Welfare. However, even with a high minimum wage in Australia they still have a class of people who make Welfare a lifestyle instead of working. It seems to me that if the minimum wage in the US is raised to a living wage like the $15 an hour the activists have been wanting then Welfare should be reduced to force people to have to work.
@GIKorea – but like you said, there are people who will opt for welfare and never work. Or they will only work for cash payed under the table. So no matter how high the minimum wage goes – there are millions who will still not choose to work.
I think the worst country in the world for loafers is Britain – where one fifth of their taxes go to welfare recipients.
We already have about 125 Million fellow travelers out of work and the government importing millions more every year. Do not be fooled. When we accept a minimum wage, we are accepting the idea of a maximum wage.
@setnaffa, that videos is incredible. You would think they would just deport all those people living on the street and trashing Paris. It makes me wonder what they do for money to live? Commit crime?
There are many cities in the USA that are approaching this level. Minimum wages laws drive employers to hire illegals. Crooked politicians pocket the profits. Don’t mistake textbook utopian communism with the real thing. Watch or read Animal Farm.
Only communists support government-mandated wages. Everyone should decide the price they’re going to sell their time… No room for slaves…
>The minimum hourly rate of 4,860 won, due to rise to 5,210 next year
When was this article? The minimum wage 2016 is 6,400 won per hour.
I see that the article is from 2013. The wages have been rising in double digit growth since 2013. This gives enough time for businesses to adjust.
@Tyson, good catch on the date. For some reason the Korea Herald had that article linked on to their front page.
Yeah… that minimum wage got my attention. I thought I was overpaying.
Setnaffa, I have written often against minimum wage… but I am starting to change my tune.
Because illegal aliens are flooding America, minimum wage does not reflect the American market value of labor… jobs that should pay more get by paying “minimum wage”.
Further, due to welfare programs, it becomes a sort of corporate welfare… big companies pay unreasonably low wages and let the welfare system pick up the slack for people to actually live.
While I believe a higher minimum wage hurts the middle class and small business more than it affects big business and the rich, I am starting to wonder if forcing big companies to pay a living wage is a good idea.
It may remove the benefits of hiring illegal aliens and it may get the working poor off taxpayer support.
Let’s discuss this further.
I’m also in favor of garroting and hanging traitors (including those who knowingly hire or shelter illegals) in gibbets for the sport of the crows. The illegals themselves would save themselves by self-deporting.
Allowing wage and price controls is a Stalinist tactic, also practiced by Nixon before he was welcomed by the Red Chinese.
No, if a business is forced to pay minimum wage, all employees are “human resources”, not individuals paid on merit.
“Further, due to welfare programs, it becomes a sort of corporate welfare… big companies pay unreasonably low wages and let the welfare system pick up the slack for people to actually live.”
The welfare system is broke on the employee side also when employees who are collecting welfare benefits (food/cash/section 8/free childcare etc.), refuse to work extra hours because if they make more than is allowable, then their welfare benefits can be reduced or cut-off. Years ago, I had employees turn down promotions because they would lose money overall! I would tell them that welfare is supposed to be temporary and not a permanent way of life.
@setnaffa, I don’t know if you have ever been to Australia, but I would not call that country Stalinist and they have a $17.70 minimum wage. Plus in Australia they have a national healthcare program which means people can live on a minimum wage job and not depend on Welfare. However, even with a high minimum wage in Australia they still have a class of people who make Welfare a lifestyle instead of working. It seems to me that if the minimum wage in the US is raised to a living wage like the $15 an hour the activists have been wanting then Welfare should be reduced to force people to have to work.
@GIKorea – but like you said, there are people who will opt for welfare and never work. Or they will only work for cash payed under the table. So no matter how high the minimum wage goes – there are millions who will still not choose to work.
I think the worst country in the world for loafers is Britain – where one fifth of their taxes go to welfare recipients.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbaV4cz9zPM
We already have about 125 Million fellow travelers out of work and the government importing millions more every year. Do not be fooled. When we accept a minimum wage, we are accepting the idea of a maximum wage.
Immigration has allegedly ruined Paris. http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-10-14/scenes-apocalypse-mass-immigration-ruins-streets-france
@setnaffa, that videos is incredible. You would think they would just deport all those people living on the street and trashing Paris. It makes me wonder what they do for money to live? Commit crime?
There are many cities in the USA that are approaching this level. Minimum wages laws drive employers to hire illegals. Crooked politicians pocket the profits. Don’t mistake textbook utopian communism with the real thing. Watch or read Animal Farm.