Voters in Switzerland, which currently has no
minimum wage, overwhelmingly rejected a referendum to create a
minimum wage of at least 4,000 Swiss francs a month. Fully 77
percent said no, according to
Businessweek.
Traditionally, wages in Switzerland have been negotiated by
collective bargaining, with agreements covering pay, vacation days,
and even retirement age. The median wage in the Swiss private
sector was 6,118 francs last year. A gas station shop worker in
Lucerne is paid 3,570 francs a month, while a 62-year-old music
teacher in the city of Winterthur gets a monthly salary of 9,758
francs and six weeks of vacation, according to a 2014 study
published by the Canton of Zurich Labor Ministry….When adjusted for purchasing power, the Swiss wage would amount
to $14.01 an hour, compared to $10.60 in France and $10.20 in
Austria, according to OECD data for 2012….
Other reports say the wage
would have been the equivalent of $25 an hour (presumably without
adjusting for purchasing power).
Late last year, Swiss proponents of a guaranteed minimum income
pushed for a vote on that.
Nothing on that score has been scheduled yet,
although here’s an April 2014 PBS report on the concept that
includes Reason contributor and Mercatus Center economist
Veronique de Rugy, the American Enterprise Institute’s Charles
Murray, and Bloomberg View‘s Megan McArdle. Last year,
Swiss voters
did pass a law limiting golden parachutes and other
compensation issues for executives.
After Luxembourg and Norway, Switzerland has the highest
per-capita GDP in Europe.
Last year, I wrote about American unions’ attempts to double the
wages of fast-food workers, to a minimum of $15 per hour:
Regardless of how much solidarity or sympathy you might feel
about the people who assemble your Triple
Steak Stack or your Cheesy Gordita Crunch,
this sort of demand is economic fantasy at its most delusional and
counterproductive. Doubling the wages of low-skilled workers during
a period of prolonged joblessness is a surefire way not just to
swell the ranks of the reserve army of the unemployed but to
increase automation at your local Taco Bell.
Reason on the minimum wage here.
Reason TV checked out last December’s “Fast-Food Strike” in New
York. You’ll be surprised by what we found.
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