Comments on: ACT Party youth rates bill drawn from Ballot

By: smackdown

smackdown — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 05:37:36 +0000

stpehen “fuck you got mine” slittington

By: Three Wise Men

Three Wise Men — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 03:20:38 +0000

you’re really annoyingly precocious

By: Stephen Whittington

Stephen Whittington — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 02:57:06 +0000

That’s not quite true Raptor. There was a study (Stillman and Hyslop), which found that putting 18 and 19 year olds on the adult minimum wage did not increase unemployment. It also found positive results for those younger (which may suggest they exchanged 18 y/o labour for 16 y/o labour.

Minimum wages are most important when they are most binding. Large increases in the midst of a recession would be such a time. Hopefully Stillman and Hyslop is extended using the more up to date data. I assume this will happen at some point. Would you like to bet against it finding that high minimum wages have contributed to unemployment since 2008?

Also, New Zealand has little data on income mobility, but other countries, like the US, have high income mobility. It is highly unlikely that those who receive low incomes today will also do so in 20 years.

If you want to encourage people into education, then don’t make it harder for them to find jobs, because clearly those 39% of Maori unemployed are not going back to education.

By: Raptor

Raptor — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 02:45:17 +0000

Stephen: And the youth wage being raised to minimum made youth unemployment go down from 2001-2007 The point you are missing is that we should be encouraging youth into education and activities which allow them to find out what they want to be. If you get stuck in a dead end job at 16 then the chances are you’ll be stuck in dead end jobs for the rest of your life. It’s not productive for the economy and it’s counter productive on an individual human level.

By: smackdown

smackdown — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 23:48:22 +0000

gimme some money i work hard all day every day

By: Stephen Whittington

Stephen Whittington — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 23:05:25 +0000

That is correct, but it is read in light of the principal Act – that is, an Act that sets minimum wages.

By: Freya Eng

Freya Eng — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 22:48:04 +0000

Hi Stephen,

I would alert you to Section 4 of the Minimum Wage (Mitigating Youth Unemployment) Amendment Bill – that is what I based my statement off, naturally.

“4. Purpose
The purpose of this Act is to amend the principal Act to end wage parity between youth (15 – 17 years old) and all other workers by enabling the Governor-General by Order in Council to set minimum wage rates defined by reference to the age of workers.”

Forgive me if I’ve misunderstood that.

Regards,

Freya

By: Stephen Whittington

Stephen Whittington — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 12:10:09 +0000

Also, in response to Raptor, the unemployment rate only measures those who are seeking work. The increase in the minimum wage for youth in fact led to an increase in the number of people dropping out of schools. So, if that’s your concern, then you should perhaps reconsider your position on the Bill.

By: Stephen Whittington

Stephen Whittington — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 12:08:51 +0000

Freya,

It is incorrect to say that it would end wage parity for youth employees. Article 30(2) of the Human Rights Act specifically allows employers to discriminate in the setting of wages between those aged over 20 and those aged under. There is no pay parity as a general rule. However, there is (as a result of Bradford’s Bill) parity when the employee over 20 is receiving the minimum wage.

If it is a general matter of “same work, same pay,” then I suggest that those commenters who believe that should start some kind of campaign to repeal section 30(2) of the HRA.

By: Alpha

Alpha — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 08:17:17 +0000

Lol @petermcc. We’re just full to bursting of companies who can’t afford to pay someone $2.50/hr more. That’s a lot to ask of the exceedingly wealthy corporations young people are likely to work for. Equal work, equal pay. That’s a pretty simple concept.

And Raptor’s on the ball too.