Observing the increased in the population of unhappy/sad/depressed Singaporeans around us, especially when taking public transport, I feel that the source of that unhappiness is not caused by lifestyle but the minimum amount of money  or "dough" that Singaporeans earned are not adjusted compared to the cost of living in Singapore.

This could be an increasing problem for Singaporeans now and even worse in the future.

Should the minimum income be adjusted so Singaporeans could focus on growing the economy than making ends meets?

Please share you views. Thanks

how do you fix a minimum income?

nowadays, employer just say: eh, you want the job or not? if not it will be going to a FT, who work for half the pay i am offering you...

It very subjective... cos not all spend the same amount of money to cover basic living standard cos of different number of family member that rely on that salary...

How much does a hum jin bang cost?

Eat hum jinbang 3 times a day. That's the minimum wage.

Dear Poreans,

u people of the pore,

looking at the never ending price hikesssssss,

I support min wage to be implemented.

Looking at the cost of living and pressure of living and low quality of life, I think it may reduce some mental cases and suicides if implemented.

this is a cruel world. more cruel than before and no end in sight. raped by the world.

exception will be when your life and career was preplanned by someone and born with golden spoon and inherited stinking loads of money. no need to prove to be successful. Just take.

A minimum wage should not be implemented.

1st, what should be defined as minimum?

2nd, it creates job shortage.

A minimum wage could be defined as the lowest hourly rate that is acceptable to every Singaporeans in Singapore.

By setting a minimum hourly wage, it will serves as a standard which employers must obey by law to prevent labour exploitations, protects all employees in Singapore and significantly reduces gap between the lower income earners and the middle-income earners and higher-income earners.

Advantages of this implementation will inject a strong confidence in the employees in Singapore, encouraging FT and local talents alike to focus confidently on their area of expertise without the worries of making end meets.

Disadvantage of this would be the risks of incurring inflation in Singapore economy, where Singaporeans with more spending power will be spending more Singapore dollars due to the initial adjustments of the minimum hourly wages. But that would be a speculation, as many Singaporeans are in debt one way or another. Eventual conclusion would resulted in Singaporeans using the extra spending power to reduce their debts before spending it away, so risks of inflation would be kept to a minimum scale.

This move would shed a new light of confidence for young Singaporeans moving into the workforce and encourages young families to increase the new population of future Singapore.

I strongly support the setting and adjustment for minimum wage to be implemented.

Minimum wage should be set to McDonald's hourly rate or something. Even if you are a FT, McDonald's due to their CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) initiatives, they will still pay their hourly flat rate of 4-5 dollars an hour.

- If you give people a Shit Sandwich, at least tell them why.. -

Originally posted by ShitSandwich:

Minimum wage should be set to McDonald's hourly rate or something. Even if you are a FT, McDonald's due to their CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) initiatives, they will still pay their hourly flat rate of 4-5 dollars an hour.

 

- If you give people a Shit Sandwich, at least tell them why.. -

No, minimum wage should be fix according to the grades. Positions which are prone to wage competitions from FTs .

Example.

Low grade min income $A/hr ( Cleaners, Domestic helpers, Construction workers)

Lower middle grades min income $B/hr ( Junior clericals/administrative, assistant/helpers etc)

Middle grade min income $C/hr ( Engineers, Teachers,  Technical  positions,  Middle management executives etc)

Upper grade income .. no minimum wage since it wouldn't matter anyway. ( Doctors, Bankers, CEOs etc )

first of all, look at your income expenses balance sheet, and decide for yourself which are unnecessary spendings.

second, when your income > expenses, what have you done to your extra savings? Just save in the bank and wait for interest like what is being done with the CPF?

third, are you only blaming others? Eg blame the govt, blame your wife for spending money, blame your children for spending so much, blame your parents for spending so much, etc? Do you think you yourself has no blame?

fourth, do you have the drive, passion and courage to take the first step forward?

Q. What should be the minimum annual wage in S'pore......

A. The more the merrier..... till companies can't support the cost, close shop.... or move themselves to Batam.

I don't believe in a minimum wage. Such things should be determined by the marketplace. If a job does not pay enough don't take it!

If nobody wants to work for a particular company because they do not pay enough. That company will have no choice but to offer higher wages.

Originally posted by Eddie Lee:

I don't believe in a minimum wage. Such things should be determined by the marketplace. If a job does not pay enough don't take it!

and let FWs take it!

FWs are another issue. All countries have a right to limit the number of FWs entering their country.

Originally posted by parn:

A minimum wage could be defined as the lowest hourly rate that is acceptable to every Singaporeans in Singapore.

By setting a minimum hourly wage, it will serves as a standard which employers must obey by law to prevent labour exploitations, protects all employees in Singapore and significantly reduces gap between the lower income earners and the middle-income earners and higher-income earners.

Advantages of this implementation will inject a strong confidence in the employees in Singapore, encouraging FT and local talents alike to focus confidently on their area of expertise without the worries of making end meets.

Disadvantage of this would be the risks of incurring inflation in Singapore economy, where Singaporeans with more spending power will be spending more Singapore dollars due to the initial adjustments of the minimum hourly wages. But that would be a speculation, as many Singaporeans are in debt one way or another. Eventual conclusion would resulted in Singaporeans using the extra spending power to reduce their debts before spending it away, so risks of inflation would be kept to a minimum scale.

This move would shed a new light of confidence for young Singaporeans moving into the workforce and encourages young families to increase the new population of future Singapore.

I strongly support the setting and adjustment for minimum wage to be implemented.

 

Total bull-shit.

What you're saying applies to a closed-economy.

If my wage increase but all my $$ goes to import and not local produced goods, how can that lead to inflation?

If we set minimum wages, it would simply depress our GDP further, in view of our appreciating currency.

Yet, it is not as simple as it looks. The afore-mentioned will only occur if we assume that S'porean skills are not as high-valued. If we're highly valued for our productivity, then the impact will not be so great.

BUT, we should still not have minimum wages. How are we gonna expect SMEs to survive, and SMEs play a big role here.

Originally posted by 16/f/lonely:

Total bull-shit.

What you're saying applies to a closed-economy.

If my wage increase but all my $$ goes to import and not local produced goods, how can that lead to inflation?

If we set minimum wages, it would simply depress our GDP further, in view of our appreciating currency.

Yet, it is not as simple as it looks. The afore-mentioned will only occur if we assume that S'porean skills are not as high-valued. If we're highly valued for our productivity, then the impact will not be so great.

BUT, we should still not have minimum wages. How are we gonna expect SMEs to survive, and SMEs play a big role here.

So is USA a closed economy ??????

Many years ago I was the manager of a fast food restaurant in the United States. When the government raised the minimum wage. I immediately fired my three least productive employees.

Originally posted by jojobeach:

So is USA a closed economy ??????

Nope. But it depends on your trade to GDP ratio.

S'pore's is 3:1. So how will increased wages lead to inflation?

Originally posted by Eddie Lee:

Many years ago I was the manager of a fast food restaurant in the United States. When the government raised the minimum wage. I immediately fired my three least productive employees.

You don't need to wait till they raise the min wage to fire the three LEAST PRODUCTIVE employees.

I'd have fired them long time ago... DUH ~

Originally posted by Eddie Lee:

Many years ago I was the manager of a fast food restaurant in the United States. When the government raised the minimum wage. I immediately fired my three least productive employees.

That's why I mentioned it would lead to job shortages.

A minimum wage distorts the market. It does not reflect the pay everyone agrees upon and if set below this pay, why set it all?

Originally posted by 16/f/lonely:

Nope. But it depends on your trade to GDP ratio.

S'pore's is 3:1. So how will increased wages lead to inflation?

We are not talking about increasing wages.. we are talking about making sure the wage don't get more depressed than it already is due to influx of FTs.

By not having minimum wages, Singapore remains competitive against other developed countries which do, such as France and New Zealand.

Nevertheless, I'm sure that this will one day become an opposition party's electoral promise.

Originally posted by 16/f/lonely:

That's why I mentioned it would lead to job shortages.

A minimum wage distorts the market. It does not reflect the pay everyone agrees upon and if set below this pay, why set it all?

You know what is minimum wage anot huh ?

Originally posted by marcolow:

In general, the work attitude and skill sets of Singaporeans and

By not having minimum wages, Singapore remains competitive

Yes... Singapore remains competitive.. but Singaporean's are suffering.

Some of your employess will always be less productive than others.

I had planned on only firing two people. But by sacking the third person I was able to give raises to my better employees.