Minimum wage and loss of jobs

I am baffled by the argument put forward by NTUC trade union leaders and their MPs that a minimum wage will cause the low income workers to lose their jobs. I find their reasoning to be convoluted and  ridiculous. When the low wage workers lose their jobs, who is going to do the cleaning job and other manual tasks?

If the union leaders are really concerned about protecting jobs, they should press the government to stop the inflow of unskilled foreign workers. The manual work has to be done, and business will have to pay a decent wage to local workers to do these work.

There is the argument that a minimum wage will create a black market using illegal foreign workers to do the work at the expense of local workers. I do not agree. It is easy to prevent such abuse in a small place like Singapore. If the authority is serious, employers will not dare to flout the rules.

Some people said that local workers are unwilling to do the manual work. This is also not true. The local workers, especially the elderly poor, are now doing these work now, but are not getting a decent wage. If the wage is increased and the job is made more dignified, more people will do the work.

Some people fear that a minimum wage will increase the cost of living. This is only partly true. Wage is only one factor. A bigger component are the salaries paid to top managers, high rental on properties and profits to shareholders. A higher wage bill will put pressure on the other components and will not raise the consumer prices by the same extent.

There is also the uncertainty. The MPs argued that nobody knows what will happen when a minimum wage is introduced. I also find this reasoning to be baffling.They only need to look at the experience of other countries. The minimum wage policy is not perfect, but it usually does more good than harm. That is why nearly all countries in the world adopt it. Only in Singapore, do we have capable leaders who think in a convoluted way.

Tan Kin Lian