<p>This doesn't really have anything to do with colleges but I thought I would defer to your knowledge.</p>
<p>I am interviewing a couple of people about minimum wages and would love to see some of the questions you guys would ask the following people on the topic:</p>
<p>Prominent writer on the topic in the local news
Service station attendant (one of people who will benefit from the implementation)
Security guard (one of the people who will benefit from the implementation)
Government official
Employers of service station attendants and security guards</p>
<p>Background information:
I am writing a 40 page paper on the extent of the effect a minimum wage scheme will have on the employment levels of service station attendants/security guards.</p>
<p>I assume that you are interested in the implementation of minimum wage policies in some other country, because the US already has minimum wages. You could research the effects on the implementation of minimum wage policies on employment levels in countries or states that already have minimum wages.</p>
<p>Why are we doing your homework for you anyway?</p>
<p>What would the minimum wage in Hong Kong be if there were one?</p>
<p>Germany discussed setting a 5 Euro minimum wage at some point, which would have been pretty useless because everyone (besides teenage babysitters) is earning more than that anyway. A person who works 40 hours a week for 9 Euros per hour is living below the poverty line.</p>
<p>I think they are proposing a minimum wage between 24 and 30 HKD an hour. That translates to around 3-4USD/hour. That is barely enough to get around in an expensive city like Hong Kong (homes are much more expensive than US, as is food, but everything else is about the same as the US - according to my US friends).</p>
<p>I think that is around 10000USD a year, if someone works a 9 hour day and works everyday (including Saturday and Sunday).</p>
<p>well be happy the US has minimum wage laws. singapore has no minimum wage laws. hell, people working at macdonalds are being paid 3.50SGD an hour. that's like slightly more than 2.50USD ?</p>
<p>
[quote]
Germany discussed setting a 5 Euro minimum wage at some point, which would have been pretty useless because everyone (besides teenage babysitters) is earning more than that anyway. A person who works 40 hours a week for 9 Euros per hour is living below the poverty line.
[/quote]
I have no idea, which part of Germany you are from, but where I'm from quite a few places are paying less or exactly 5 an hour. Though not the norm it's more common than it should be.</p>
<p>Really? Around here 7 Euros is the absolute minimum (except for Azubis of course, but that's an entirely different story altogether). On the other hand, the region is also blessed with a sub-4% unemployment rate, which is better than most anywhere else in the country.</p>
<p>While Germany doesn't have minimum wages, the government is heavily subsidizing low-income workers (Wohngeld, Kurzarbeitergeld, etc). That might actually encourage companies to pay less than they usually would, because they know that employees can get their wages supplemented through social security.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Service station attendant (one of people who will benefit from the implementation)
Security guard (one of the people who will benefit from the implementation)
[/quote]
</p>
<p>There's a big flaw in your methodology if you're assuming that service station attendants and security guards would be beneficiaries of a minimum wage increase. Where I'm from, nearly all security guards earn wages significantly above minimum wage. And I'm not from a wealthy area.</p>
<p>This is Hong Kong.. the world's #1 in terms of free markets. Trust me when I say they are below minimum wage - if you lived here you would know.</p>
<p>Sorry, I only quickly skimmed your post and clearly misunderstood it. Thought you wanted us to interview these people for you in our own countries.</p>
<p>Haha, definitely not. It would be ridiculous of me to think such a thing.. just wondering if there were any questions you thought would be appropriate for me to ask when I go about collecting primary data for my paper.</p>
