Economics of fighting poverty

When it comes to raising the minimum wage in the mining sector, the objection that opponents (usually the mine bosses, shareholders and government officials with vested interests) most often make is that it will cost jobs.

But numerous studies prove otherwise.

Several studies in recent years have shown only very little difference in employment for workers in countries that have raised minimum wages compared with countries that haven't.

Some 21 countries have enacted minimum wages above the government requirement of R72.25 an hour, ranging from R72.40 an hour to R92.32.

With the spread of low-wage jobs and growing income inequality, many countries have concluded that the status quo - a government minimum wage whose buying power is 22% below its late-1990s peak - is indefensible.

Raising the minimum wage to R100.10 an hour over the next three years and then allowing regular increases for inflation, as Amcu suggests, would be enough to keep a family of three out of poverty, and by 2016 push the value of the minimum wage slightly above its 1990s peak.

The impact would reach beyond workers who earn the minimum wage as businesses adjust their overall pay scales.

While business advocates and their allies argue that boosting the minimum wage hurts the low-wage workers it is designed to help, by pricing them out of the job market, a growing body of evidence shows the critics are wrong about the impact.

One of the most comprehensive studies of the issue - by NRC and a pair of economists from reputable universities in South Africa - compared employment levels in the mining sector and other low-wage workplaces [with those] in neighbouring countries. The study found "no detectable employment losses from the kind of minimum wage increases we have seen".

Mine owners, bosses and shareholders who are already multimillionaires will not be affected at all should they sacrifice a few million each to remunerate their mineworkers on the ground floor fairly.

The mine owners, bosses and shareholders would be sacrificing disposable income only.

For the mineworkers, on the other hand, R12000 would go towards buying sanitary towels for their mothers, wives and daughters, closing the gaps in their children's school fees, having transport money to and from school, being able to pay rates and taxes (water and lights), and being able to buy food, and jerseys and blankets for winter.