The Big Kahuna and little kahuna for all to see
07 Mar 2017 Leave a comment
in fiscal policy, labour economics, politics - New Zealand, poverty and inequality, public economics Tags: social insurance, universal basic income, welfare state
.@sarahinthesen8 splits from @leerhiannon on fawning on dictators
05 Mar 2017 Leave a comment
in politics - Australia Tags: Australian Greens, Cuba, Watermelons
My favourite @FairnessNZ graphic
05 Mar 2017 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, applied welfare economics, economic growth, economic history, economics of regulation, macroeconomics, politics - New Zealand Tags: alternative facts, Employment Contracts Act, labour market reform, neoliberalism, Rogernomics
Source: Low Wage Economy | New Zealand Council of Trade Unions – Te Kauae Kaimahi, with extra annotations by this blogger.
To paint pre-1984 New Zealand, pre-neoliberal New Zealand as a fairly egalitarian paradise, Max Rashbrooke is an example, is to ignore two thirds of the population and the inequalities they suffered:
“New Zealand up until the 1980s was fairly egalitarian, apart from Maori and women, our increasing income gap started in the late 1980s and early 1990s,” says Rashbrooke. “These young club members are the first generation to grow up in a New Zealand really starkly divided by income.”
Racism and patriarchy can sit comfortably with a fairly egalitarian society if you are to believe the vision of the Twitter Left as to their good old days.
John Quiggin refers to the period in Australia known as the Menzies Era as part of his golden age of the mixed economy. The Menzies Era was most of the 23 years of uninterrupted conservative party rule between 1949 and 1972. The actual Menzies Era was the period up to 1966 when Liberal Party Prime Minister Sir Robert Menzies retired
Calling all #Tories4Kelvin, not too late for a last stand for merit-based promotion
04 Mar 2017 Leave a comment
The Racist Origin of the Minimum Wage — Deirdre McCloskey
03 Mar 2017 Leave a comment
in economics, labour economics, minimum wage, politics - USA
Charles Waldegrave concedes @TaxpayersUnion critique of @LivingWageNZ
02 Mar 2017 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, labour economics, personnel economics, politics - New Zealand
The godfather of the NZ living wage, Charles Waldegrave, conceded that different people are hired after a living wage policy is adopted. That is precisely my critique of the living wage in my recent report for the Taxpayers’ Union.
I summarised that report at public hearings on the living wage at the Hutt City Council last night where the living wage movement also made submissions.
My critique is that higher calibre people will crowd out minimum wage workers from vacancies for which they were previously hired because they are paid the living wage of $20.20 per hour rather than the minimum wage of $15.75 per hour. Employers expect better recruits if they pay more.
The living wage movement and the Taxpayers’ Union are in complete agreement on the minimum wage being crowded out of living wage vacancies in the future by high-calibre applicants attracted by the $20.20 pay. My submission to the Hutt City Council last night is below:
Remarks to the Hutt City Council Finance Committee
The Achilles heel of a living wage at councils is they still must hire on merit. Employees at the time of the living wage rise to $20.20 per hour gain, but their replacements will come from jobs on a similar pay rate to merit short-listing.
Ratepayers pay above-market wages forever for a one-time poverty reduction for existing council employees. A living wage will not lift recruits from poverty because they will be earning a similar pay in their last job to merit shortlisting.
The practical upshot of a living wage is a council is raising its hiring standards. The lower-paid breadwinners currently hired for council jobs are shut out by a living wage policy. Seventeen out of 33 Wellington City parking wardens were not rehired when their service was brought in house as living wage jobs.
The experience with large minimum wage increases in service jobs in American malls and restaurants is employers respond to the wage increase by being choosier in their hiring. Employers expect recruits to be more experienced and arrive with the necessary skills rather than be trained on the-job.
Living wage advocates happily concede that the quality of recruitment pools improves after a living wage policy is adopted. They call this professionalisation of entry-level jobs. They do not ask what happens to the workers who are no longer shortlisted for living wage jobs. They should.
A living wage is linked to the sum of money needed to raise a family. Yet 40% of a living wage increase for workers with families will be lost to income tax and reductions in Working for Families.
The cruel reality is low income families are worse off, not better off, after the introduction of a living wage. Their breadwinners are no longer shortlisted for council jobs because of the raised hiring standard. While advocates have the best of intentions, they hurt the very families they earnestly want to help.
Jim Rose
Research Fellow
Taxpayers Union
1 March 2017
This dress would have been OK with @NZGreens if it was a burqa
28 Feb 2017 Leave a comment
in discrimination, economics of education, economics of religion, gender, liberalism, politics - New Zealand
As Catherine Delahunty MP said after visiting a fundamentalist religious community in New Zealand:
I looked at the gorgeous, yet regimented girls in their identical clothing and wondered how a physicist, an international lawyer or a plumber might blossom if the only role models she was exposed to were those in her own community. We agreed to disagree, because you can’t argue with religious certainty and a literal interpretation of a religious text. This community feels they are under attack by people like me and throughout the day the women and men I met did their best to share their vision of a safe, structured and practical world led entirely by men who consult with women.
More @NZGreens fantasies about terrorism! Do non-Western terrorist murders not count?
28 Feb 2017 Leave a comment
If it would all have been different but for a UN mandate for the Iraqi war, Secretary of State Powell simply should have worked harder. I do wonder what the Afghan based jihadists are fighting for given that punitive expedition had UN authorisation after 9/11.
Source: New Zealand Intelligence and Security Bill Government Bill As reported from the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee, Minority Report of the New Zealand Greens.
#Italy is a feminist paradise if its #genderwagegap is not #fakenews; Romania is in touch with its feminist side too
24 Feb 2017 Leave a comment
in discrimination, econometerics, gender, labour economics, politics - New Zealand
At least 12% #Gitmo detainees should never have been released; 21% too many under Bush, that big softy!
24 Feb 2017 Leave a comment
in defence economics, politics - USA, war and peace
Source: Sebastian Gorka Disagrees With Official Terrorism Statistics via Only 12% of Guantanamo Detainees Released by Obama Have Returned to the Battlefield | Mother Jones.
20 @EtuUnion parking wardens lost jobs b/c @LivingWageNZ @JordNZ
24 Feb 2017 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, labour economics, politics - New Zealand
Source: THE LIVING WAGE in the People-Centred, Smart Capital of Aotearoa/New Zealand Addressing inequality starting with Wellington City Council This report was prepared for Living Wage Wellington with the assistance of Prue Hyman, formerly Associate Professor of Economics and Gender and Women’s Studies at Victoria University of Wellington at https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/nzlivingwage/pages/129/attachments/original/1434872254/Living_Wage_Wellington_CC.pdf?1434872254
#he nzlyer
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