I am unsure how seriously I should entertain the current thought I am harboring. I am thinking of something that is absurd at the first pass but on second thought, it is not so. I meant to write this as a satire for The Malaysian Insider in a fashion that I have done earlier but given my tight schedule, I have refrained from doing so.
I fear I might forget this line of reasoning if I do not record it down anytime soon. And so, here it is.
Minimum wage can be redefined as a guarantee of certain level of wages to those who are employed at the minimum wage level at a firm covered by the minimum wage law. Consider an economy-wide minimum wage law that typically covers low-skilled employees.
In that case, the law discriminates between those who work as employees and those who work by themselves. This statement can be stated more convincingly as a comparison between, for example, a security guard (essentially a low-skilled employee) and a pisang goreng (Malaysian-style banana fritters) seller. Let these two individuals have the same expected income from their economic activity sans minimum wage for the employee.
Is there a reason why the security guard deserves minimum wage, but not the pisang goreng entrepreneur?
The discrimination is unfair and unjust.
This of course is not a call for minimum wage for entrepreneurs. That would be ridiculous. This is just to highlight some of the moral deprivations of the policy.
