THE EDITOR, Sir:
I WOULD like respond to a letter written by a Mr. Michael Spence expressing his view that the minimum wage should be as low as possible.
I have just one question for him. Could he personally live on Jamaica's minimum wage and feed his family with it?
He mentioned that Chinese minimum wage earners earn much less than Jamaica's. Would he really like Jamaica to become like China, where legislation that protects workers' rights and personal safety in the workplace, as well as environmental protection, pretty much doesn't even exist?
You may not hear of it much in the news, but Chinese officials usually have to deal with mass protests on a daily basis. If you look at the history of the industrial revolution, it doesn't take very long for workers to realise the collective power they have and then assert that power, even in the face of an oppressive regime.
From a strictly economics point of view, the average standard of living of a country vastly improves when minimum wage is increased to the point that allows for at least a basic existence. On the other hand, countries that have notoriously low minimum wage and worker protection standards are usually hotbeds of social unrest and crime.
Business people often forget that the nation's working class majority are also their customers. They can't spend more at your place of business if they're hardly making anything at all. So, if Jamaica's business leaders actually want to see a vast improvement in their bottom lines overall, they should actually be supportive of higher minimum wages for the nation's workers.
I am, etc.,
PETER HOPKINS
yamdigger@hotmail.com
Ontario, Canada
Via Go-Jamaica
