HAROON BHORAT: Minimum-wage gamble
It’s a measure that is often touted as a panacea for inequality. But setting a minimum wage is a double-edged sword, as agriculture has shown
01 August 2019 - 05:00
Minimum wages are generally viewed as an important instrument in worker protection and wage support. In an ideal world, a minimum wage helps to reduce poverty as well as inequality.
Indeed, for the majority of countries, adopting some form of minimum-wage legislation has now become a standard tool of labour-market policy. More recently, in developed economies where debates about rising inequality are receiving increased attention, the minimum wage has gained attention as a mechanism for offsetting widening income disparities, alongside other measures such as raising taxes on higher earners...
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