Brian Kantor’s column on the minimum wage was superb (Minimum Wage Hurts Poorest the Most, May 17).
This likely outcome was pointed out to the department of labour and the minister on many occasions. I raised the probability of job losses with the minister directly on at least three occasions. Even the national Treasury's research raised the risk of 750,000 job losses. However, the government is expert at “unintended consequences”. Fortunately, these warnings of job losses were well recorded and readily available in the Hansard and other recordings of labour portfolio committee meetings. It is a tragedy that the initial panel of experts who made the recommendation with regard to the level of the national minimum wage were not listening to input. Hopefully the new panel of experts advising the labour ministry on the consequences of the national minimum wage will take into account feedback from experts such as Kantor. Michael BagraimMP, via e-mail..
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