Saturday, February 23, 2013

Fair wage for a job

What is the fair wages for a job? 

Some people think that it can be left to the "free market", i.e. supply and demand. This is the approach adopted in Singapore. Look at the mess that it has created - so many locals out of job or not earning enough to meet the cost of living. 

Some countries have strong trade unions to negotiate the wages for various categories of workers, e..g Australia and Europe. They also use the tool of a minimum wage. While not a perfect system, it seemed to produce a better outcome than the "free market approach".

There is an alternative approach - somewhere in the middle. It uses the free market approach to determine the wages, but removes the weak bargaining power of the workers. It also ensures quality, reliability and profitability of the workers and allows them to earn more, and allow their employer to be profitable. What is this method?

I like to have some discussion about this "alternative method", which is a better way.

1 comment:

Xianlong said...

S'pore's state capitalism is atrocious. China which practises state capitalism uses it as a tool for local employment to keep its citizens happy for social stability.

Here in SG, it is the hell with locals as long as aliens are cheaper(but not better or faster) to boost the bottomline.

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