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Business Daily: Minimum Wage, Maximum Poverty?

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Minimum Wage, Maximum Poverty?

26/05/2016 GMT

BBC World Service - Business Daily, Minimum Wage, Maximum Poverty?

How a minimum wage affects poor workers' prospects. Plus, job-hunting in Africa.

Many are protesting for a better working wage. But how does a fixed minimum affect poverty generally? Plus, we meet an entrepreneur aiming to revolutionise job-hunting in Africa.

We examine the economic conundrum of the minimum wage. There are big protests this week outside McDonald's HQ in the US where poor workers are campaigning for a $15 minimum - that's twice the current level enforced by the US federal government. But what kind of effect do minimum wages have, here and around the world? Sifting the evidence, David Neumark of the University of California, Irvine, tells us minimum wages don't actually alleviate poverty generally - for many, they make it worse. Also on the subject of jobs we hear from the Cameroonian tech entrepreneur, Churchill Nanje, founder of Njorku.com - a start-up that's transforming the business of job-hunting on the African continent.

(Photo: Fight for 15 protesters at McDonald's HQ in Illinois, Credit: Getty Images)

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