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The issue with minimum labour standards is that you have the question of what happens to people whose value is less than the standard. If you have a minimum wa
by hect0r 14y ago
The issue with minimum labour standards is that you have the question of what happens to people whose value is less than the standard. If you have a minimum wage of five dollars, what happens to the person who, for whatever reason, only produces two dollars of value? They are unemployable and hence never enter the labour market. It would be preferable to let them work at two dollars because, over time, we know that their value increases. One can see this on a global scale in how traditional sources of cheap labour have become more expensive and more skilled over time.
- eli_gottlieb 14y agoIf someone's labor cannot sustain their life, then it's perfectly sensible that they become a ward of their family or civil society or the state.
- hect0r 14y agoPerfectly sensible for those who have no potential of achieving more but for others who do have potential it seems rather cruel to lock them out of the labour market. Unless an employer is atruistic, they are not going to hire such a person and thereby help them realise their potential because to hire them at minimum wage would result in a net loss.
- eli_gottlieb 14y agoAnd for the worker to work at less than a living wage is a net loss to them.