THE institution of a national minimum wage in SA has the potential to raise the incomes of the poor, reduce inequality, and boost domestic spending, consumption, output and growth — all without a significant effect on employment.This is international experience and the results of the most appropriate statistical modelling exercise undertaken to date. It is not the position advanced by Nicoli Nattrass and Jeremy Seekings in their Business Day article of December 8.It would be impossible to deny that companies face cost constraints and that a national minimum wage set at a decent level would raise wage costs, while having various beneficial effects. Equally, it is implausible to conclude, as Nattrass and Seekings repeatedly do, that boosting domestic demand has no role to play in generating growth in the economy.They rely on the results of the Treasury’s computable general equilibrium model, which shows that even a minimum wage set at an amount lower than many existing minima would le...
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