Denmark Fairy Tales: Denmark does not have a $20 minimum wage
TL;DR Summary
In Part 1 of this review, we showed the claim that Denmark is the happiest country in the world because of the listed items is a logical fallacy; its not true.
In this part, we learn that the $20 minimum wage claim is not true either.
- Part 1: Denmark is the world’s happiest nation because of the following reasons (Not true)
- Part 2: Denmark has a $20/hour minimum wage (No, it does not).
- Part 3: Denmark has a 33 hour work week (No, it does not)
- Part 4: Denmark has Free University ? Yes but read why – it’s not why you think
- Part 5: Denmark has Free Childcare? No, it does not – this claim is a lie
- Part 6: Denmark has Free Healthcare, sort of
- Part 7: We should all be like Denmark, remember?
- Part 8: Is Denmark a socialist country?
DENMARK DOES NOT HAVE $20 MINIMUM WAGE LAW
Denmark does not have a minimum wage law. The $20 figure comes from the AVERAGE of the lowest minimum wage negotiated for union jobs in Denmark [Source 2]. About 65-75% of workers in Denmark belong to a trade union. “Average” also means that some have a lower wage than $20. The $20 minimum wage claim is a distortion.
“Wage formation in Denmark is mainly based on collective and to a lesser degree individual bargaining. There is no legislation neither regarding wage formation in general nor regarding a national minimum wage.”
…
“Unions and employers’ associations still stand firmly on the view that pay-setting and minimum wages are issues for collective bargaining and not for legislation. A fixed minimum wage would in the long run render the bargaining system, the so-called Danish Model, superfluous, they claim.” [Source 1]
Sources
- http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/observatories/eurwork/comparative-information/national-contributions/denmark/denmark-wage-formation
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_minimum_wages_by_country
Note also that in this poster, Occupy Democrats correctly translated the Danish Krone into US $s for price comparison, whereas in a similar poster regarding Canada, Occupy Democrats played a sleight-of-hand-trick, leaving the minimum wage in Canadian $s but comparing it to the differently valued US $. Details on the Canadian propaganda poster are here.
A more recent version of this poster now asserts a $21 per hour minimum wage in Denmark, which of course, is also not true for the same reasons. That said, wages are greater in Denmark for many reasons, including that 1 in 4 residents live in Copenhagen, the fifth most expensive city to live in, in the world. Denmark also has the highest taxes of any country in the world, ranging from about 40% to 70% of all personal income (including Denmark, local and 25% Value Added Tax). At $20/hour, the after tax take home pay is still better than in the U.S., but not by a huge amount.
FUTURE POSTS
Future posts will look at:
- Part 1: Denmark is the world’s happiest nation because of the following reasons (Not true)
- Part 2: Denmark has a $20/hour minimum wage (No, it does not).
- Part 3: Denmark has a 33 hour work week (No, it does not)
- Part 4: Denmark has Free University ? Yes but read why – it’s not why you think)
- Part 5: Denmark has Free Childcare? No, it does not – this claim is a lie).
- Part 6: Denmark has Free Healthcare, sort of
- Part 7: We should all be like Denmark, remember?
- Part 8: Is Denmark a socialist country?
Text for Search Indexing
Why is the Denmark ranked the happiest country in the world by the United Nations?
$20 minimum wage
33 hour work week
Free University
Free Child Care
Free Health Care
Why is Denmark the happiest country in the world?
$20 minimum wage
33-hour work week
Free university
Free childcare
Free healthcare
Share if America should follow their lead
Occupy Democrats
Denmark v. USA
$21/hr. minimum wage $7.25/hr. minimum wage
Free healthcare, childcare, college and job training – Healthcare, childcare and college are a luxury, can bankrupt you or saddle you with debt
Paid sick and parental leave – No paid sick/parental leave
Only 6.1% of children live in poverty – 23.1% of children are poor, highest rate in rich world
Ranked #1 happiest country
Ranked #1 country for business
Ranked #1 most unequal rich country
Share if Americans can learn from Denmark!
Occupy Democrats
2 thoughts on “Denmark Fairy Tales: Denmark does not have a $20 minimum wage”
Comments are closed.