National minimum wage not a solution – Agri SA
A national minimum wage will lead to job loss, Agri SA said on Tuesday.
"It would be extremely short-sighted if not inhumane not to acknowledge the desperate situation many fellow South Africans find themselves in," Agri SA president Johannes Möller said.
"We most certainly cannot as individuals and as a country turn a blind eye on absolute poverty, and worse even people not having enough to eat."
He said an increase of 52% in the minimum wage in 2013 applicable to the agricultural sector reinforced the already observable downward trend of employment in the sector.
"Apart from other unintended consequences a national minimum wage that is set higher than the current minimum wage in the agricultural sector will further decrease the labour absorption capacity of the sector for especially unskilled labour, violating against the noble aims of the National Development Plan for the sector to create one million jobs by 2030."
He said proponents of a national minimum wage seemed not to recognise that productivity set the level of prosperity and not demand stimulation through merely setting wages at higher levels.
"What we really need is a better skilled labour force, less rigid labour markets, and a supply side approach to enhance economic competitiveness. Increased demand by effectively creating more money is at best likely in the very short-term. Eventually, however, it boils down to money illusion and no real gains," he said.
Comments
The
content
you are trying to access is only available to subscribers.
If you are already a subscriber, you can Login Here.
If you are not a subscriber, you can subscribe now, by selecting one of the below options.
For more information or assistance, please contact us at subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za.
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation