Time to scrap the minimum wage?

In2minds

"How did we end up with Euro-style levels of youth unemployment"?

Would having so many foreign workers be something to do with it?

PayDirt

Many are sitting at home nursing their student debts and wondering if anything is worth it. Better lie in bed and wait for the night clubs to reopen.

pete-s

If you let in 4M immigrants of working age, don't be surprised there are not sufficient jobs for the youth entering the job market.

Rhoda Klapp

It is notable that when the minimum wage is increased, money flows from the employer to the governemnt via the employee, who if he is on ny kind of benefits will lose some of them, apart from having a marginal tax rate of 30odd percent. Thus it pays the government to lift the rate, so it has no problem with being 'generous'.

starfish

Hmm

What that graph tells me is for the last 9 years the UK's youth unemployment rate has been better than the Eurozone average - sometimes significantly so and yet you are highlighting something that might turn out to be a very short blip, although the trends seem clear

What it doesn't tell me is what the differing criteria for 'unemployed' are or how the UK compares against new entrant economies or similar economies like Germany of France

Neither does it tell me how Eurozone compares to other EU nations that are not in the Eurozone like Norway

So it is completely meaningless to draw any conclusion

Please do better

Kestrel Sprite

Another legacy from 13 years of Labour government, which the British people voted in three times. Their destruction of the state education system, with much collateral damage to private education, can now be seen in its devastating affect on the employability of the nation’s youth. Those young people who were bright enough to escape most of the box-ticking educationalists’ damage have now been priced out of the market by the only too predictable effect of the minimum wage. A double whammy from Labour, for which the British people will doubtless vote them in again next time.

cg

Why not abolish wages altogether and bring back slavery?

Trafalgar

In London, I'd expect to pay my employees at least £6 per hour. That equals about £12k a year and I'm not sure I'd get away with any less. What stops me hiring more students - particularly in summer holiday time - is the requirement to provide full employment rights to temps like sick pay/holiday etc.

I also reckon the minimum wage actually acts as a curb on immigration as it stops the incentive for low wage immigrants.

pete-s

Put some asymtopic lines through the graph. There are two slopes and that meet at about 2001, showing this underlying trend started a long time ago.

Pot Head

It's not about the minimum wage. Young people don't vote so politicians don't care.

The boomers who got us into this mess get triple locked state pensions, ring fenced NHS spending and can now work forever The young who had no hand in causing this dire economy get, tuition fees, scrapping of EMA and 20 % unemployment.

Chris Rose

It would be interesting to see data which would show whether or not the deteriorating education system over the last fifteen years has anything to do with these figures. What qualifications do these young people have?

Dave B

Link below is a video of Milton Friedman on the minimum wage.

http://youtu.be/ca8Z__o52sk

grandstand

I am 21 and just graduated from Uni (top 10 english uni)
Because of the grim outlook with jobs, i have come to China to teach English for a year in the hope the job market picks up in the process.
Looks like I am simply putting off unemployment for another year!

Where are the jobs!!!??

Jez

Wow! What a coincidence!

I had announced that i'm being made redundant on Monday morning. 'One to One' HR consultation tomorrow with a goodbye 'package' i very strongly expect.

This is not the governments fault. It is to do with economic factors that are prevalent throughout the financial markets that have dripped down to every level of business. (that's not the opening symptoms of Stokholm Syndrome btw- i think the 'coalition' is a failure of the Conservatives and the Lib dem's to actually have enough support to be elected, even in the face of a dead duck Brownite Labour Party).

Negative; wife, 3 kids, mortgage, Christmas.

Positives; Knew it was coming, Mortgage protection kicks in, set up as a LTD small business and freelance/sub-contract, budget through Christmas, by February make a descision to stay self employed or move to become an employee within my industry.

Simple.

You never get anything for nothing, no matter how much this has been drilled into a post Credit Crunch, X-Factor thriving generation.

If it doesn't work then f*ck it, you had a go. Find out what went wrong and put it right.

Ps. Fraze, if you need any cutting edge working-class angled articles on how badly it all is away from the elitist bubbles up there, inbox me. I give you a quote!

(Then again, I won't hold my breath.)

;-))

tom jones

Fraiser, I normally have a great deal of respect for you, but until you've lived on minimum wage then it's hard to understand how tough it is. I'm on minimum wage now and the answer to solving youth unemployment isn't to make poor people on minimum wage even poorer by ditching the minimum wage. What a stupid idea and one I really hope this party rejects. It's a UKIP-type policy not a Modern Conservative one. Job creation? Yes. Private sector job creation? Yes. Slashing minimum wage to people already struggling? No. Our whole welfare package is to make work more attractive to those who don't work. Ending the minimum wage will have the exact opposite effect.

normanc

Here's the right to reply summed up before we get to read some fatuous arguments:

Mill owners are 'orrible people and would have kids of 7 up chimneys for tuppunce ha'penny per week if it wasn't for the government telling employers how much they should pay people.

There, that's saved us all wasting our time on some future article (I fully accept any time spent reading this comment is also wasted, as was mine typing it).

Jayu

And how would you fund this tax cut, amongst the others you have called for?

Peter Buss

Thats right - lets all have a race to the bottom to get out of this mess !! Truly dreadful stuff from someone who can only think of things in pure monetary terms whilst at the same time begging for the 50p rate to go.I am a Conservative but want to have nothing whatsoever to do with this sort of thinking.

Peter From Maidstone

Youth unemployment is an immigration problem. Everything this Government will suggest will make not a bit of difference. 7 million immigrants = 21% youth unemployment.

Winston

Nothing to do with the minimum wage. Its immigration, immigration, immigration. I have a very capable sister, who has been trying very hard to find part-time work to support her family. Just imagine how you’d feel when you find the local shops and supermarkets are full of overseas students and Eastern Europeans holding down several jobs. Employers prejudicially prefer them, not just because they are hardworkers, but owing to the fact very few of them have other responsibilities or ties. “Stay a bit later?”. Yes, no problem, or sorry, I have to pick up my children/care for my mother/I have a social life?

Jarmer

I'd like to know if anyone advocating the abolition of the minimum wage would themselves be prepared to work for less than £6 an hour.

I am a student, and have worked this summer at those wages, because I could only get a minimum wage job that would fit around my studies. I know I wouldn't work for any less. I'd just spend less money, and struggle by on my student loan (which wouldn't do much to help the economy, note).

After taxes, full time work on the minimum wage is under £200 a week (that's not taking into account the costs of transport and the numerous other expenses of working). Unemployed benefit is £67. If the gap falls even smaller, do you really believe more people will get into work?

michael

'Knuckling down' is a life skill born of necessity. Kids don't need to do this ...
yet ... so generally they don't .
Perception is probably a good deal worse than the facts, nevertheless those without a track record will have to prove themselves, and consequently the only shoe in, that is likely to tickle the fancy of a not unreasonably sceptical employer, is price.

startledcod

Not only has the minimum wage kept the unemployed unemployed (as I explained to a local youth how good it was that the job he didn't have was well paid) it also drives down the wages for those in employment as the minimum wage has become the de facto rate for the unskilled, many of whom could expect to start climbing the ladder.

cg

normanc - it's alright for him, so bollocks to everyone else.

FvH

Post colonial consumer nation - manufacturing in long term decline and at 10% of GDP lower than say Germany - over dependence on financial services - bursting of financial services bubble - no money left to subsidise public sector jobs

The macro trends are inevitable - where's the mystery?

better get used to it, it's only going to get worse

Hugo Chav

Fraser,

Face the facts old boy, the UK is going bust.

We now get by with a mega deficit and money printing. God knows how long we'll get away with it before the markets tell us to get lost. Same goes for the Yanks.

If I were in power I'd be inacting no strike laws for employees in the fuel and power industries.

Jane

Despite the huge amounts poured into education in the past decade, there are too many young people leaving school ill equipped for the workplace. In my area, these youngsters once worked in the food industry either in the fields or in food processing factories. These jobs are now filled by economic migrants and employers are very happy with their commitment and hard work. These migrants also use every facility to further their language skills etc as evidenced in the local press.

What is so sad is that these unskilled youngsters have totally unrealistic expectations of what job they can undertake. Many absolutely refuse to do unskilled work - why should they when in the last decade they have been part of a culture that believes the State will provide. Many young people have no concept of responsibility to their community and the taxpayer. When we pay them benefits and rent for those who do not wish to live at home, they are happy with their lot. We have paid them to remain in education, free transport to colleges of their choice ( for some outrageous courses) which is not always the college adjacent to their homes, etc etc. Somehow, the balance has shifted where many young people feel that they can have it all without any input from them. We have badly let them down and must work hard to change course.

We need to introduce some element of work for benefits for those who are fit and able to do this. We really must break this culture of it is OK to rely on the State. In many communities there is much community work that can be done which the local authorities are unable to do. In my opinion people should work for their communities to receive welfare benefits. I sometimes despair of policies over recent years which have encouraged this current state of affairs.

Hugo Chav

Pardon me, I shouldn't have said "the UK is going bust," because we can print our money. I should have said the UK is going to get a lot less wealthy, a good phrase is we are becoming an Undeveloping Nation.

DavidDP

So far, Fraser's election winning platform for the Conservatives includes:

- Cutting spending faster and further
- Cutting the rate of tax paid for by the richest
- Abolishing the minimum wage

How you aren't a multiple campaign winning MP astonishes me, Fraser......

Archibald

Fraser, looking at the graph, there appears to be little change from 1999 when it was introduced until the recession, so I'm not sure I follow your argument.
What are the figures for those under 21, I'm assuming you can separate those out, is there anything to suggest that raising the age to 25 would affect matters? What is the trend for them, compared to 21 to 25? Also do immigration figures account for the latest spike at all - it seems a reasonable assumption that many immigrant workers fall into the same sort of age bracket. Also is the spike in unemployment for over 25s on the same path, I presume it is? Wouldn't this be shifting the problem to older people if it is shown to benefit youth employment If there was to be a reduction, I would suggest this should be allowed to be really rather low indeed, but only for those employing school leavers or people around that age on a 2 or 3 year apprenticeship.

Laura Bean

For the future let us hope faith in apprenticeships will be repaid in happy, student-debt-free, skilled workers. For now, I do not see that making the poor poorer will solve anything and personally if I found myself on the current min wage I cannot imagine any aspect of my life that would not be changed for the worse.

Chris lancashire

You are quite right that the minimum wage is a hindrance to youth employment. When it was introduced at, I believe, £3.60 it was well below what my company paid. Slowly it encroached upon our lowest grade and is now a mild consideration in setting wage levels.
Secondly, how is that a minimum wage for, say, London, is equally applicable in the North of England (or elsewhere) where the cost of living is so much lower.

But finally, the worst obstacle to youth and other employment isn't the minimum wage it's the plethora of "protective" legislation which makes it so difficult, dangerous and costly to shed labour either due to a fall in orders or due to poor performance. That's what stops me hiring more than the minimum wage.

Purpleline

I think the government should create a buddy system, where persons over the age of 60 are given a young unemployed person to work with doing the same job. Money could be half wage from employer and half by government in form of tax breaks.

This would help the oldies out and the youngsters.

Boudicca

We've ended up with EU levels of youth unemployment because we have hundreds of thousands of reasonably well-qualified Eastern Europeans working here, taking entry-level jobs which our own young people should get.

It has little to do with the minimum wage and everything to do with the over-supply of labour.

I am sick to death of our Government, the Opposition and the mainstream Media refusing to acknowledge the truth. The free movement of labour has been a disaster for British workers - particularly young British citizens seeking their first job.

Time to get OUT of the EU.

Baron

Fraser gets it in just one short sentence: “People tend not to stay on this bottom rung for very long, but the higher we raise the bottom rung the more we risk taking the ladder out of reach”.

The minimum wage has cost this country more jobs than any past recession, more to the point, most of these lost jobs aren’t recoverable.

The minimum wage ain’t primarily about youth employment, it’s more about employment per se, Baron’s aware of three small/medium companies that packed up, one closed, the other two moved to China, the introduction of the measure may not have been the decisive feel good policy for the three firms quitting here, it certainly was a strong contributory factor, it had a domino effect on jobs higher up, still has, as Fraser puts it so elegantly above.

The sooner it’s scrapped, the better.

Baron

and this:

You recall, few years back a noisy campaign to stop child labour in Africa?

Baron’s been helping abit a family in one of the African countries, a nine year old child in the family had a job in an outfit that had to close because of the campaign, what happened to the operation Baron doesn’t know, the boy from the family has been without a job since, the family has suffered, cannot pay for the education of his younger brother because of it.

You may think this has BA to do with the minimum wage, and you’ll be right except that it falls into the same mould of thinking by the pseudo-liberal nutters, it feels noble, compassionate, heart warming to have no child labour in the poor countries, minimum wage here, however, it achieves exactly the opposite what the do-gooders intended. Madness.

Fraser’s right on the minimum wage, let’s have a re-think.

Nickle

Pardon me, I shouldn't have said "the UK is going bust," because we can print our money.

===============

It is going bust, and printing money won't solve it.

The vast majority of the government debt is pensions, all Maddoff'ed off the books, and its inflation linked.

Print - you cause inflation - and your debt goes up. So it doesn't work.

The end result is that the government will default. It already has partially defaulted.

RPI to CPI for inflation - 15% off you pension.

State retirement age from 65 to 68 (for men) 15%. For women, 40%.

daniel maris

Baron - You're arguing for child labour and against the abolition of child labour back in the 19th century in this country.

Unbelievable!

The minimum wage is absolutely essential especially in an economy with large scale immigration.

daniel maris

We need to ensure all 16-25 YOs have guaranteed PAID employment. It's not that difficult to arrange.

More generally we need to share the work available and stop the eroision of working conditions.

Seasurfer1

Fraser - Excellent write up of the truth.
I would go further, that the under 22s are just in general unemployable. There is little work ethic after strolling in and out of further education at times which do not tally with a real working day. How many of us see students strutting in and out of College at all times of the day.
The Minimum Wage level is just not worth it. Market forces should determine the labour price.
Vince Cable said prior to October 2010 when the MW was reduced for an Adult to the age of 21 from 22 "I would like to thank the LPC for doing a good job in difficult circumstances" - In other words I will put a million of our young people out of work.
To get out of these Economic problems we need to get people working productively.

Get rid of the MW.

Get rid of National Insurance contributions for Employers on a graded scale - say from 50 million Turnover.

Reduce Statutory Holiday Pay to 20 days, for all, from the penal 28 days.

Start Statutory Sick Pay after the first 14 days sickness and only after 26 weeks payment of NI.

Eliminate all Employment laws and free the market. The Unions will object but they will still be srtiking when reality and the market dictates and there are 10 million out of work.

Master Cobbett

I agree with those who put some of the blame for the high levels of unemployment on the east european 'invasion' over the last seven years or so. But one thing has always interested me about the process of hiring , say, Polish workers; if I applied for a specific job or went to an employment agency I would expect to provide two or three references from previous employers, all based in this country, and all with english as the language of negotiation. How do employers/ agencies check up on staff in a similar way if they've just stepped off the coach in Victoria , with no english contacts at all? Is the bar suddenly lowered ?

JohnBUK

Daniel Maris "We need to ensure all 16-25 YOs have guaranteed PAID employment. It's not that difficult to arrange".
Doing what and paid for by whom?

Marcher Baron

Frankly, I'm not surprised that there is such high youth unemployment, judging by the lackadaisical work ethics and standard of (il)literacy among the youngsters on a degree course I completed recently. Add to that the vast numbers of immigrants that have flooded the country and high unemployment is inevitable. Fix the schools, reform the benefits system, pull out of the EU (thereby releasing us from the burden of compliance with EU diktats stifling employment) and the problem would start to resolve itself.

Hugo Chav

Nickle,

They'll just keep printing until the final collapse, then we will start again.

That is why it is imperative we get no strike laws in key industries whilst the trauma convulses the nation.

"Everyone loves an early inflation. The effects at the beginning of inflation are all good. There is steepened money expansion, rising government spending, increased government deficits, booming stock markets, and spectacular general prosperity, all in the midst of temporarily stable prices. Everyone benefits, and no one pays. That is the early part of the cycle. In the later inflation, on the other hand, the effects are all bad. The government may steadily increase the money inflation in order to stave off the latter effects, but the latter effects patiently wait. In the terminal inflation, there is faltering prosperity, tightness of money, falling stock markets, rising taxes, still larger government deficits, and still roaring money expansion, now accompanied by soaring prices and an ineffectiveness of all traditional remedies. Everyone pays and no one benefits. That is the full cycle of every inflation."

Jens O. Parsson

Abigail Hulton

I agree with Jez. I have been out of the Country for a long time, whatever happened to the going rate? Also, the negativity here is beyond belief.

Abigail

Daniel, it is difficult to arrange if you do not allow people free reign to start Companies and to ensure that Business grows, I do not believe that Government should have any control on employment whatsoever. Why are the Government expected to pay for Appprentiships, it should be down to Companies to do that not the tax payer.

Baron

daniel, what are you talking about, Baron’s not arguing in favour of child labour, he is simply telling you what's happened to a poor family with one nine year old doing a job, now he doesn’t, his brother cannot get any education, now if those who forced the outfit to close had a solution that didn’t require the nine year old to labour, ensured the education of his younger brother, fine, the thing is they didn’t have any new ideas except for the principle of preventing child labour, the outcome’s much worse for the whole family than what the conditions were before, not that hard to follow, is it?

Tiberius

Jez: post it on The Wall. I'll certainly read it.

Clear Memories

The minimum wage is not the only thing driving business out of the UK and forcing youth unemployment through the roof – and every failing can be laid at the door of Labour.

As an ex-apprentice in Engineering (albeit a damn long time ago), our wages were based upon the starting ‘tool room’ rate for a skilled/qualified man, with an increasing % rising from 16 years to 21 years when you “qualified”. So wages grew with skills but never matched ‘the rate for the job’ until you could do the job. Further, unions negotiated the toolroom rate so there was no need for State interference. It is time some similar structure was introduced, even as simple as a starting rate of 50% of the minimum wage, rising by 10% each year until parity is achieved. And remove all State benefits until a minimum of 5 yrs NI has been accrued.

Reassess education. Upon reaching 16 years, require all to take an external assessment of their skills in Maths, English and interpersonal skills (ie manners, ability to follow simple instructions) Have the tests developed by Industry/Commerce. Those that fail be required to stay within the education system until they pass – perhaps a type of ‘approved’ school?

Dump all the social engineering laws, especially for temporary and agency workers. These really need to be 'pick up - put down' staff, used to cover sickness, shortages, unexpected growth.

Finally, get rid of the maternity rules. The biggest block to employing women of child-bearing age for small businesses are these biased, bankrupting regulations. Couple it with the removal of benefits to all single Mothers under 21 and we might finally get things moving.

It is a given that anyone caught employing asylum seekers and others not entitled to work in the UK need to face stiffer penalties than they do now. It seems to be the pattern that illegals disappear into ‘their own’ Communities to work illegally. Where that is the case, deport the employer and his family as well.
As for EU nationals, only grant access if they can demonstrate they have a job. No job after 4 weeks – send them home. The EU freedom of labour is for them to WORK here, not idle their lives away at our expense.

UK plc cannot carry on as it has been. As always, Socialism has failed for the usual reason – they’ve run out of other peoples money.

Sir Everard Digby

Fraser -your stats mask the issue. It's a two part problem:

Government discourages employment by:
Taxing jobs through employer NI charges;

Making a range of employment benefit provision mandatory for every employer,regardless of whether they can afford them or not;

Presents an army of busybodies to isnepct every facet of business life.

Imposing a tax regime which effectively means the more you profit,the more you give the government -hardly encouraging for entrepreneurs is it?

Government discourages employees by:

Short termism - quick publically funded(or not) fixes which never lead to permanent jobs;

Engendering a benefits reliance (such the EMA)
Engendering an entitlement culture -witness the student fees demos.

Encouraging the culture of celebrity - you can be a star overnight - no need to learn a craft.

Pursuing education for education's sake -no clear strategy for what needs to be taught and why.

Encouraging the rights culture;
Discouraging personal responsibility;

Much work around employing people is now a tick box exercise to make sure the rules are not being broken. The state has replaced common sense with form filling,dogma and rafts of legislation.

Nothing will change until this changes.

Mark M

The cynic would suggest it was all Labour's attempt to create a permanent voting bloc. Give children a lousy education then set the minimum wage so many of those children would have no chance of commanding such a salary, ensuring that they are forever out of the job market and in the pocket of big government. Then they tax what few rich there are in order to bribe those children they let down for their votes.

Minimum wage laws have always increased unemployment among the very groups it's meant to be aimed at helping. If you want to help a young person get a job, don't price them out of the market.

Seasurfer1

Fraser- some good responses to the problem. David Cameron and George Osborne should take heed and find the answers to the problem throughout this Post and its responses. Perhaps it is summarised in Freedom and the Market.

Baron

Clear Memories, sir, spot on.

anne allan

The minimum wage is merely the final straw. Low levels of literacy, numeracy and the ability to get up in the morning play a large part in the high number of NEETS.
Whenever an employee fails to turn up for work, without the manners to report in sick - or, worse still, mummy phones in for him, eventually - we just raise our eyebrows, note the English moniker and just ensure that his replacement has a Polish name.

StrongholdBarricades

Maybe you called for the wrong people for the minimum wage.

What happens if the UK campaigned for all those workers in China to receive the minimum wage equivalent of the UK.

Wouldn't that solve the dilemma?

After all it can not be right for people in the UK working for the minimum wage only able to afford goods produced by people in foreign countries that work for less than the minimum wage.

revolution

How many of the uneducated non working third world immigrants with multiple wives and litters of kids allowed into the UK by Tony the phony Blair and his labour stooges are boosting these jobless figures.

echo34

the minimum wage, another excuse for the useless to get paid the same as the aspiring, all in the interest of equality.

the yanks don't have it and have probably the best customer service standards in the world.

Someone who does their job well will be rewarded, the one who doesn't, gets what they deserve.

M42

I do wish the vast majority here knocking young people, " the under 22's this the under 22's that" would preface their coments with the words "some of".

I have two daughters, between 20 & 24 yrs old and one did go to University, but she worked every hour that God sent to support herself throughout her studies, the other younger daughter hasn't been, or might not yet go, to Uni but from day one of leaving school she has worked in very responsible positions in retail , including a spell in junior management. She is ALWAYS on time for work ( she struggled through nine ins of snow last winter), she is ALWAYS very smart, she is ALWAYS on the ball and doesn't spend all her money down the pub. I DO wish that some of the contributors here wouls stop, yes stop, being SO OLD and so willing to put all young people down.... You all really annoy me.

Kingstonian

Let's be clear: a "wage" is simply a price, the price that an individual sets for selling his/her labour. If we argue - as daniel maris does - that a minimum wage is absolutely essential, why not a minimum price for any other product - shoes, for example, or petrol, or hats? If we accept that the market will set prices for commodities, why not wages?

LibertarianLou

Well, it's difficult, because although cutting the minimum wage might mean more jobs, and help businesses expand, if those wages don't cover livings costs, what's the point? Less money will be kicking around the economy and never mind the human cost, it will pile on extra state spending in terms of topping up wages, supporting people etc... not going to help the deficit.

Perhaps a gradation of the minimum wage? It seems mad to me that the minimum wage Tesco or Sainsburys or Wetherspoons pays is the same as the minimum wage paid by a small business with a handful of employees and v little turnover.

We already pay different wages and some people still end up doing the poorer paid jobs, so I don't think you'd end up with everyone working for a 'big' business.

I think the biggest 50 companies could pay a much higher minimum wage, and the smaller ones could pay a much much lower minimum wage.

Perhaps you could also add an incentivising tax cut for companies struggling with the min wage - they'd have to demonstrate that they actually were struggling, and that they planned to spend the tax cut on the business/creating jobs/etc (i.e. not just hoarding it at the top) - instead of the state boosting the wages of the people at the bottom?

I doubt anyone will agree with that. But I believe it would help a lot.

LibertarianLou

Kingstonian

You're not being serious surely?

A person has to actually live on their wage. Unless we want people to either starve in the streets even though they work full time, or have the state topping up everyone's wages to a mad cost in taxation, then a limit on how low wages can drop is the least of all evils.

Rhoda Klapp

Pretty proscriptive for a libertarian, Lou?

Martin

If person A and person B agree that person A will work for person B for £x per hour, then they should be allowed to get on with their arrangement, unmolested by the authorities, regardless of how low x is. Otherwise, the authorities are impinging on the freedom of A and B.

Dusky

Erm no, the authorities are stopping A being screwed by B.

Martin

Dusky, if you and "the authorities" think that x is too low, I still think that A and B should be left to get on with their agreement. I don't like people being bossed around unnecessarily.

Also, Dusky, what if B offers to employ A for 40 hours per week at £x, giving A £40x per week, but x is lower than the minimum wage, and A can't find any other job, causing A to have an income of, say, £12x per week, even though A would prefer to work for B? Isn't the minimum wage system, in this case, rather cruel?