Is Switzerland set to pay WORLD’S HIGHEST minimum wage of £15 AN HOUR?
PLANS for Switzerland to introduce the world's highest minimum wage of almost £15 per hour have been criticised by the country's economy minister.
Swiss voters will decide on May 18 whether to introduce a minimum wage of 22 Swiss francs (£14.81) which amounts to £2,693 per month, or more than £32,000 per year before tax.
The proposed Swiss minimum wage is almost double the £6.98 recently decided by Germany and far more than the £6.31 basic wage on offer in the UK.
The minimum wage in America is currently £4.36 but President Barack Obama wants to raise that to just over £6.
Swiss economy minister Johann Schneider-Ammann said the move would hurt the country's competitiveness and lead to job cuts.
He said it would have the adverse effect and impact the low-income workers it was designed to help.
Speaking at a press conference yesterday, Mr Schneider-Ammann said: "The government is convinced it would be wrong for the state to impose a nationwide wage."
The move is meant to help those in low-skilled jobs living in the expensive country which.
In 2011 Switzerland had an average monthly wage of 6,034 Swiss francs which currently equates to £4,062.
The measures are being pushed by the Swiss union SGB and supported by the Socialist Party.
They claim that in Switzerland around 330,000 mainly women workers in full-time jobs do not have enough to live on.
The SGB say they are paid less than £2,693 per month which is not a pay rate they can survive on.
A recent UBS report said the cost of living in Swiss cities is among the highest in the world.