9 Apr 2018

Minimum wage forcing prices up, businesses say

From Morning Report, 6:12 am on 9 April 2018

Business owners are being told they have no choice but to raise prices in response to rises in the minimum wage, if they want to stay afloat. The minimum wage rose 75 cents at the beginning of the month to $16.50 a hour, its biggest jump in more than a decade. That is set to keep gradually rising to $20 per hour by 2021. The managing director of Wellington-based Village Accommodation, Adam Cunningham, told RNZ economics correspondent, Patrick O'Meara that profit margins are too thin to absorb the extra cost.