Minimum Wage

This image was posted by my local MP. He’s crowing about how his Labour Party has moved the NZ minimum wage up faster than the National Party… showing off how the Red bars grow faster than the Blue ones.

But for me as an American, the astounding thing is that the minimum wage keeps growing year after year under both parties.

There is no question that running a small business is expensive and difficult in NZ, as many small business people will tell you. But the benefits — from my perspective — certainly seem to outweigh the costs. People with jobs can mostly afford to have lives here. You’d rather be making more, of course, and two of those incomes are needed to raise a family, but a minimum wage job makes a meaningful dent in paying for the stuff you need.