Benchmarking Minister's Salaries to the lower income

Another interesting article on the Online Citizen. This one proposes that Minister's salaries be benchmarked to the lower income.

http://theonlinecitizen.com/2007/04/09/ministers-salaries-losing-touch/#more-276

Left my comment there too. Hmmm... might be turning into a commentary blog? *sigh*

Mr Leong does make a very good point about benchmarking to the lowest income to motivate political leaders to raise the income of the lowest paid workers in Singapore.

There would seem to be an inherent bias that if I know my pay is benchmarked against the top 50 paying professionals, I would be motivated to see what policies i can make to raise their salaries.

That said, the salaries of the top 50 or 100 people in any field in the private sector are not likely to be affected by govt policies much. I’m pretty sure that Wee Cho Yaw’s salary is not much affected by govt policies directly. Moreover, the richest in the country are also the most mobile. Given enough disincentives or disadvantages, they will leave taking their business and their capital with them. In IR-speak, we must know how to treat the whales well.And while there is a lot of things the govt can do to raise the salaries of the lower income (e.g. minimum wage, protecting industries,preventing layoffs/retrenchment) in the long term, these policies maynot be in the best interests of Singapore. I agree with the principle that the income of poor should be a deliverable that contributes to the decision as to whether Ministers salary goes up or down, but at this point it is at best a concept.