DA debates the impact of the minimum wage

he following speeches were delivered today in the Gauteng Legislature by DA Gauteng Shadow MEC for Economic Development, Janet Semple MPL and DA Gauteng Spokesperson on Economic Development, Ina Cilliers MPL, during the debate on the impact of the implementation of the minimum wage.

Janet Semple MPL

“Blanket minimum wage will strangle employment”

  • The implementation of R20 as an absolute minimum wage may for some be a welcome relief, but for many – especially the unemployed whom had no say in the matter, it is not the panacea that the ANC has promised.
  • Sadly, one of the knock on affects that the introduction of a flat minimum wage does is to create a race to the bottom. Instead of establishing the minimum wage as a basis from which business can start, it sometimes ends up as a target of employers to achieve to reduce labour costs
  • In a country with both a skill and employment shortage, a blanket minimum wage cannot work. If we are truly committed to lifting our people out of the clutches of unemployment, then we should be more flexible with our work for pay scaling.

The full speech can be accessed here.

 

Ina Cilliers MPL

“Individual worth the key to inclusive job creation”

  • The ANC is under the misconception that the laws of economics stop applying because you choose to ignore them.
  • In its rush to ram a minimum wage through parliament, the ANC has abandoned fact and evidence-based policy-making, pandering instead to populist sentiments and using the economy and the vast, coercive power of the state to manage its internal politics with the unions – at the expense of the people of South Africa.
  • We would implement innovative policy tools to ensure that we expand individual freedom so that job-seekers willing to work at a rate of their choosing are given a legal mechanism to do so.

The full speech can be accessed here.