Key on Wages

Labour has been attacking John Key for his purported comments in this article, about wanting wages to drop, John Key says he was referring to wages in Australia.

I wasn’t there, but I would be surprised if any party leader is seriously campaigning to cut wages in NZ. It might be Key didn’t make himself clear and that is a lesson to be remembered in election year – your mistakes (if it was one) will be pounced on.

It is also worth remembering though that wage rises not tied to productivity increases are not helpful in the long term.  Andrew Little himself has acknowledged the need for better productivity, as this is what fuels sustainable growth.

The notion that NZ would suddenly be 20% wealthier if  everyone in NZ got a 20% pay rise is false.  NZ would not be wealthier – we would just have much higher inflation and interest rates.

Also interesting to note that someone on the left is so excited about what Key said, they they have started spamming people about it. The e-mail looks professional enough that I doubt it is a lone operator.