Swiss to vote on $25 an hour minimum wage

Re:Swiss to vote on $25 an hour minimum wage by olalonde on Saturday May 17, 2014 @02:21AM (#7759377)

Didn't the Swiss vote on basic income recently? Seems like it would be a much better alternative. Such a high minimum wage is likely to discriminate against the very poor by favouring automation and reducing demand for unskilled workers.

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Re:Swiss to vote on $25 an hour minimum wage by wigginus on Saturday May 17, 2014 @02:30AM (#7759392)

No, they haven't voted yet. There will be a vote, but the date of it is yet unclear.

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Re:Swiss to vote on $25 an hour minimum wage by Kiro on Saturday May 17, 2014 @02:43AM (#7759422)

Automation is never bad.

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Re:Swiss to vote on $25 an hour minimum wage by olalonde on Saturday May 17, 2014 @04:07AM (#7759555)

Different schools of thoughts have differing opinions regarding that. As a libertarian, I'd argue that the free market is better than government at deciding what needs to be automated. Minimum wages effectively impose a tax on human labor which in turn artificially incentivizes automation. Basic income might suffer from the same problem to some degree (by disincentivizing people to do lower paid jobs) but at least, it would accomplish the stated goal of minimum wages (that is, helping the more needy).

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