On Sat, 17 Feb 2018 12:44:50 +0000, Fredxx wrote:

On 17/02/2018 12:15, T i m wrote:
On Sat, 17 Feb 2018 11:51:05 +0000, Fredxx wrote:

snip

The labour market used to determine wages, but when there is an influx
of workers into the work force who consider the minimum wage many times
their expectation,

But what of those companies who wouldn't exist were it not for those
people willing (and able) to survive on such wages?

Then they would have to employ the French model where employment costs a
company 30% more in taxes than a UK company. As a result they invest
more.

In mechanisation you mean, doing away with workers?

There's no need, of course, if cheap labour can do work that could
otherwise be mechanised.

Human labour presumably that unlike the robot line, does need to buy
food, fuel, clothes and therefore pay taxes?

A local company
employed about 30 people, some were immigrant / migrant workers and on
whatever wage the Co considered (as you say) appropriate for those
roles. Then the minimum wage came in, first 50% of the staff were laid
off and then the company went down the pan. So, you could say that in
that case the minimum wage cost everone their jobs, even the managers
and owners etc.

They would have moved to more profitable and productive businesses.

Not if they were unskilled potentially. I wonder how many of those
workers are currently costing you more via their benefit payments?

Maybe they should have asked those working if they wanted to carry on
with a job on low wages, or have no job at all?

The thing is, if you are working 10 miles away for minimum wage or a
short walk away for less, you could still *actually* be better off
getting less than the MW.

Agreed, and in-work benefits tend to disregard work-costs.

Yup.

Brexit happens.

Whatever that is.

The referendum?

Ah, sorry, I thought you were referring to something that was actually
going to provide some real solutions! ;-)

Do you really think that 'running away' from the EU *is* the only
solution to all you feel is wrong?

I mean, they have said the idea is we can 'manage' those coming into
the country better when we are out of the EU (well, the 50% we aren't
already doing) and so we will either have to hope there will still be
those who want to come here to work (with the 'right' skill sets of
course) or we are going to be buying loads of robots (made in the Far
East by their workers) and pretty fast.

But what of the jobs that can't be automated, what if people don't
want to come to this country to do them, we have to put the wages up
to attract them, costing us even more money and making us even less
cost efficient / viable?

I'm guessing you have a plan though ...

Cheers, T i m