A minimum wage is in the height by the state or by a collective agreement fixed pay, which is entitled to employees/inside as minimum. Its height can be fixed as monthly wages for a full time place or as minimum hourly wages.

Minimum wages are used mainly as sociopolitical instruments, in order to prevent poverty and exploitation in employer-employee relationships. Over the economic effects disagreement prevails. During some of rising unemployment by the introduction of minimum wages, answer in the negative others go out this connection.

World-wide seen comparatively many states fall back to minimum wages, among them the majority of the industrialized countries as well as numerous developing countries.

Intention

Minimum wages are partly justified mainly with sociopolitical and with economic arguments. Proponents of minimum wages see a minimum standard in them: The minimum wage the safe persons employed a over the subsistence level, for the living standard, to and helps to fight poverty. Furthermore give it cases of market failure, in which the free market is not able to adjust the This is in particular the case if an employer appears as Monopsonist and can determine the on one side. By minimum wages become the existing power downward gradient between employers and employees partly again balanced. Minimum wages took part the working population and its members in overall economic growth, if they were regularly increased. Besides lead a minimum wage to a quality assurance: It is guaranteed by it that the employees are inside sufficient motivated/. This leads at the same time to productivity increases in industries concerned. Finally serve a minimum wage the improved equalization of men and women, since women are often more badly paid for equivalent work than men. A minimum wage can reduce or abolish at least within the low wage range this unequal treatment.

History

A minimum wage was demanded historically several times and fought for by the workers' movement by strikes. Motive were so mentioned, which were so small with large competition on the job market that they did not hand no more to the safety device of the basic needs. A demand for such a minimum wage represented at that time also the demand after a human being-worthy life. The first legal minimum wages were inserted 1896 into New Zealand and 1899 into Australia, followed of Britannien (1909). Also a set of developing countries decided in the first half 20. Century minimum wages, under it 1918 Argentina by the Home Work act and 1927 Sri Lanka by means of minimum dare Ordinance.Chang Hee Lee of the Asia monitor resource Centre (AMRC): The minimum dares, sees on-line to other countries with a long experience with minimum wages belonging among other things the USA, France or the Netherlands.

But this were exceptions, and before the Second World War the minimum wage remained a rather meagerly used instrument. Only with end of the war the number of the countries, which saw therein an instrument to the poverty fight, increased again clearly. Also internationally the labour Organization (ILO), occupied third-in equal numbers of representatives of trade unions, employers and the states, decided now several international work conventions over minimum wage regulations: Still 1928 the minimum dare Fixing Machinery Convention (No. 26), then 1951 the minimum dare Fixing Machinery (Agriculture) Convention (No. 99) and finally 1970 the minimum dare Fixing Convention (No. 131).

Meanwhile minimum wages are inserted and established as political means in numerous countries. In 18 of the 25 countries to the European union, in practically all other industrie as well as in a set of swelling and developing countries minimum wage regulations exist. In Europe there was a clearly recognizable thrust at countries, which decided adapted minimum wage laws to their national occurences particularly to the 1990er year.

Debate and campaigns in Germany

In Germany since at the end of 2005 strengthened the minimum wage one discusses. The coalition contract of the large coalition from CDU/CSU and SPD plans only the mechanism of a working group, which is to debate the minimum wage in the context of the examination of a combination wage model also. Together for Germany - with courage and humanity. Coalition contract between CDU, CSU and SPD, 11 November 2005, P. 25 (pdf) on the Federal congress of the German trade union federation (DGB) at the end of of May 2006 rejected both Bundeskanzlerin Angela Merkel and vice-chancellor and employment minister Franz the minimum wage as measure against Lohndumping.

2006 was started two country wide campaigns for the introduction of a legal minimum wage. Initiative minimum wage initiated by the trade union the food benefit restaurants (NGG) and ver.di euro, a goal demands is later 9.00 euro at the latest to 01.01.2008 minimum hourly wages at a value of 7,50. With a 38,5-Stundenwoche this would correspond to a gross wage of 1.250 euro and/or net incomes of 928 euro in the month (with tax schedule I and without child free allowances and church tax). This amount would still lie below the seize-free income of 985,15 Euro.arbeitsrecht.de: New type character legal minimum Let us about numbers speak! See on-line under the Slogan 8 euro minimum wage. Legally guarantees. demand the left wing party. and the WASG to embody a minimum wage over eight euro legally.

Economic evaluation

The evaluation of the economic effects of a minimum wage is not simple. In a complex economic structure to filter, the economic science always places the effects of an individual element before a challenge. Generally can from theoretical perspective to be said that enterprise, which employs employees on minimum wage conditions to increases of this minimum wage with different alternatives to react be able:

• they can rationalize and the factor work substitute (i.e. to replace, for example by machines; Automation),
• they can page labor intensive steps out (wage production abroad or purchase of intermediate products on the world market; Outsourcing),
• they can increase and thus try their prices to pass the risen costs on to the customers (inflation spiral, inflation),
• they can accept something with according to existing surplus losses of profit and thus neither in the price nor in the occupation level change,
• they can change the location or also the business field, and/or the enterprise article

In the reality are all variants in different mixture, whereby it is task of the empirical economic research to find out, in which extent each of the alternatives was used.

A special challenge is the empirical determination of the effect, which a measure like the minimum wage on the establishment and settlement of new enterprises have. With these a clearly more flexible reaction to changes of the local conditions is to be expected, compared with enterprises, which already exist and are settled. New enterprises will be perhaps not ready, losses of profit will accept, if they have the free choice of the location before settlement still.

Articles in category "Minimum wage"

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