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Just FYI, the minimum wage in NZ is $13.50 per hour (NZ dollars). At current exchange rates, that is about $10.80 US dollars per hour (about .80 NZD per USD). And we get health care. Gotta wonder why we can afford it and the USA can't.
The Labour party's goal is to raise it to $15, and the Maori party has $16 as its goal. Chis Rock : "You know what that means when someone pays you minimum wage? You know what your boss was trying to say? It's like, 'Hey if I could pay you less, I would, but it's against the law.' "
forwardslash · 4549 days ago · link ·
Here in BC the minimum wage got bumped up to $10.25 over the course of a year which has helped enormously for me (a full-time student) and my fiancee (a minimum-wage earner).
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briandmyers · 4549 days ago · link ·
Here's the real problem with raising the minimum wage in America - it mostly benefits the poor, who have less and less of a voice in policy-making there.
I was going to say it only benefits the poor, but then I thought about it - it also benefits everyone that the poor spend their money on; it's like a stimulus package for a consumer-driven economy.
briandmyers · 4549 days ago · link ·
Although in fairness, I should mention that the cost of living is somewhat higher here.
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thenewgreen · 4549 days ago · link ·
Well there you go. What about the amount of defense, welfare and entitlement spending? Also, a substantial amount of our population does receive government provided healthcare which accounts for approx 20% of the US budget.
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briandmyers · 4549 days ago · link ·
The wikipedia page on minimum wage has a list of countries, and a comparitive "gross annual", which factors in exchange rates and cost-of-living. Here it is :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_minimum_wages_by_countr...