Friday, April 27, 2018

Minimum wage vs the robot age

Tebogo Tshwane (John McCann/M&G)
South Africa is gearing up to introduce a national minimum wage that could see workers earning R20 an hour, yet the World Bank says the future of work requires revised labour regulations with lower minimum wages, easier dismissals and lax contractual agreements.

A draft of the World Bank’s 2019 World Development Report on the Changing Nature of Work says the working environment is being consistently disrupted by digital advancements and labour rights are becoming “burdensome”, making workers more expensive than technology. To make up for the reduction in labour rights, the draft report proposes a social insurance system that provides everyone with a guaranteed income linked to the “flexible labour markets”.
“This approach may reduce benefits for the few covered by current arrangements but will add protection to the many workers — often the most vulnerable — who are effectively excluded today,” according to the report.

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