Who Will Free The Americans From Lowest Minimum Wage,
Uninsuredness, Homelessness and Worst Prison Industry in The Developed World?
(Deepak Sarkar,
As US/Canada
celebrates the Labour Day,
it would be wise to review the minimum wages we pay to our citizens compared to
other developed countries! A trillion dollar military spending during Peace
time can make a country Military Super Power for a while destroying the very
basis of America envisioned by the Founding
Fathers making the current
US administration their nightmares! During my 14 years of comfortable stay in USA
I travelled through 34 States leisurely to find true America and found
wonderful people many of them are overworked, working
poor, helpless,
un-insured, live in bad neighbourhoods
unparallel in other Western World! Despite all talk of Democracy, signs of
Feudalism still prominent segregating America by economic class where the Rich
has no limit but the poor and their children are stuck in the mud of ghettos
where guns, drugs and prostitutions create hell in Heaven! Hope
one day it would be the Land of the Free, Home of the Braves!
Comparative Minimum Wages in the Developed
Countries
|
Country |
Minimum wage |
% of GDP
per capita |
Annual wage
(USD) |
|
Federal minimum wage is US$5.15 per hour. Workers under age 20 can be paid US$4.25 an hour for their first 90 days; some states also have minimum wage laws ranging from US$2.65. |
25 |
10,712 |
|
|
ranges from 606 yen to 710 yen per hour; |
32-37 |
11,436-13,3991 |
|
|
Set by each province and territory; minimum hourly wages vary from CAD$6.70 to CAD$8.00 in the provinces and up to CAD$8.50 in Nunavut; Ontario pays lower rate for youths; British Columbia has a lower rate for the first 500 hours in the workforce regardless of age; |
32-42 |
11,157-14,590 |
|
|
NZ$10.25 per hour for workers 18 years old or older, and NZ$8.20 per hour for those aged 16 or 17 |
57 |
15,011 |
|
|
€8.03 per hour |
54 |
18,175 |
|
|
€1,243 a month for workers over 21 years of age; 18-year-olds must be paid at least 82% of the minimum, 19-year-olds 88%, and 20-year-olds 94% of the minimum. |
52 |
18,550 |
|
|
£5.05 per hour for 22-year-olds and above (except those within the first six months of their job and receiving accredited training) (£5.35 from October 2006); £4.25 per hour for 18-to-21-year-olds and those within the first six months of their job and receiving accredited training (£4.45 from October 2006); £3.00 per hour for under-18s who have finished compulsory education (£3.30 from October 2006); |
52 |
19,098 |
|
|
AUD 484.40 per week; most workers receive higher wages through enterprise agreements or individual contracts; trainees and apprentices, who combine employment with accredited training have minimum wage rates which vary between AUD 173.00 and AUD 453.00 per week depending on the level of schooling completed |
55 |
19,235 |
|
|
€1,264 per month plus 8% holiday allowance, summing to €1,349.14 (the amount is less for those 22 years old or younger) |
53 |
20,134 |
|
|
For a single worker over the age of 18 is €1,403 per month for unskilled workers, and €1,684 per month for skilled workers |
28/33 |
20,938/25,131 |
|
|
None by law; it is normally 3,000 CHF a month set by collective agreements |
57 |
28,911 |
Author: Deepak Sarkar,