I want to be emperor

In the early years, when the Dachu Empire established the maximum working hours and minimum wage standards, it was the 29th year of Chengshun. The empire was still in the early stages of industrialization, and the scale of overseas colonial expansion was not too large.

The overall economic environment of the empire is still in a relatively preliminary stage, so the minimum monthly wage standard is not high, only [-] yuan, and the maximum working time standard is three days off per month, and the normal working time is ten hours. With two hours of overtime, the actual maximum working time is twelve hours.

But now more than ten years have passed, the empire's economy has developed rapidly, and people's income has generally increased.

Taking Songjiang Prefecture, which has the most developed economy in the empire and the highest average income of its people, as an example, its local minimum wage standard has reached [-] Chu Yuan, which far exceeds the unified minimum standard of the empire.

The minimum wage standard in the empire can be increased by local governments based on the national standard, but cannot be reduced.

The unified standard for the empire is [-] Chu Yuan. The minimum standard for each province must be greater than or equal to [-] Chu Yuan. Assuming that the provincial standard is [-] Chu Yuan, then when the prefecture-level unit sets the minimum wage standard, it must be [-] Chu Yuan. The starting point of Liu Chu Yuan... can be increased, but cannot be decreased.

Due to the general economic development in many places, the actual minimum work standards implemented have exceeded the national standards, and exceeded them by a lot.

At the same time, due to the continuous development of the economy, people have higher pursuit of quality of life and higher requirements for income. The minimum standard of [-] yuan can no longer meet people's living security.

The starting point for the national minimum wage standards set by the Dachu Empire is to ensure a lower limit... If the lower limit is too low, then it will be meaningless.

This is why, more than a decade later, the empire is preparing to push for a new round of minimum wage standards.

And based on economic development, a basic rule must be finalized in advance so that it can be adjusted at intervals later, instead of the current situation where the adjustment of the minimum wage standard has to go to the Senate meeting and let Luo Zhixue personally lead the meeting.

The senior officials of the empire want to formulate a rule on this matter, and then they can make adjustments according to the actual situation.

Under such circumstances, Luo Zhixue held an expanded executive meeting in September 44 in Chengshun to discuss the new minimum wage standard.

And listened to reports on key data such as per capita income and consumption levels over the past few years.

According to various statistics, the per capita income of the Chu Empire has made great progress compared to 15 years ago. This is mainly due to industrial development, the expansion of overseas colonies, and the overall economic growth.

At the same time, people's consumption levels have also increased greatly. The proportion of food consumption in total expenditures has been decreasing year by year. People have begun to consume in more aspects such as housing, clothing, travel, education, entertainment, etc.

This is not only due to the increase in people's income, but also due to the large number of overseas agricultural and livestock products. Economic crops have entered the local area, so that the price of food has not increased, but has declined to a certain extent.

Let's take Songjiang Prefecture, the economic leader, as an example. In the 30th year of Chengshun, an ordinary male employee in an ordinary private factory had a monthly salary of about four to five yuan, with four days off per month and working hours of twelve. About hours.

Most of this income is used for food expenses for yourself and your family.

That is to say, the proportion of food consumption is very high, generally reaching more than 50.00%... and this food consumption is only limited to necessary food expenses, and does not include luxury food expenses such as going to restaurants, expensive ingredients, etc.

During this period, the Chu people, even the ordinary workers in Songjiang Prefecture, could only eat enough, but they could not be said to eat well. They would only buy one or two kilograms on special days such as festivals and festivals. Meat back and enjoy a meal with your family.

But today, the 44th year of Chengshun.

The minimum wage standard in Songjiang Prefecture has reached [-] Chu Yuan, but in fact, the salary income of ordinary male workers is between [-] Chu Yuan and [-] Chu Yuan.

This is still talking about ordinary unskilled ordinary workers. If they are skilled workers, low-level technicians or low-level managers, their salary income will be higher, which can reach a monthly salary of between [-] Chu Yuan and [-] Chu Yuan, depending on the specific situation. Different types of work vary, and it is difficult to have a unified scope.

Of course, in addition to these workers in stable jobs, there are actually some people whose actual income is less than the minimum wage standard, such as shop assistants, servants, dock porters and other industries, whose actual income may be only five or six yuan or even lower.

However, these low-income people also have different situations. For example, they work in unstable jobs, such as hourly-paid shop assistants and single-piece porters. These are really miserable. Their low income is all their income, and they have to bear their own food and accommodation. and other expenses.

But there are also some, such as servants, who receive pure income... Although the servant group in the Dachu Empire has a relatively low income on the surface, in fact the employer needs to provide food, accommodation and even clothing to the hired servant, and hiring These expenses are often included in the contract. The money they receive is actually the net income after deducting expenses such as food, accommodation, clothing, etc... If you really calculate it, the contract income is not too low, at least it exceeds the minimum wage standard. of.

The above mentioned are the incomes of some groups at the bottom of society. If they are the middle and upper classes, then they are even higher.

For example, for officials, even a ninth-grade official in Songjiang Prefecture has a basic monthly salary of more than 20 Chu Yuan. Plus various subsidies and benefits, after one year, the comprehensive annual income is almost more than 300 Chu Yuan. If it is An eighth-grade official who has been in the job for a long time and has been promoted several times can have an annual income of about [-] yuan.

This income belongs to the standard middle-income group in Songjiang Prefecture.

There are also middle-level managers, mid-level technical personnel, etc. in the enterprise, whose monthly income is probably tens of Chu Yuan, and their comprehensive annual income is several hundred Chu Yuan.

There are also some employees in the financial, legal, medical, and education industries whose monthly income is more than [-] yuan, and their comprehensive annual income is between [-] and [-] yuan.

As for the high-income group, it's hard to say. There are people with annual incomes of several thousand or even tens of thousands.

When formulating various welfare policies, the empire basically did not consider groups with middle-income and above, let alone high-income groups.

For example, when the empire sets minimum wage and income standards, it considers the low-income groups at the bottom of society and protects their lower income limit by setting minimum income standards.

At the same time, the place being considered is not an economically prosperous place like Songjiang Prefecture, but the entire country.

After all, the minimum income standard set by the empire is for the whole country... This country does not only refer to the small hinterland of East Asia, but also includes all directly administered territories, including the Americas.

At the same time, Chu people working in the administrative territory will also be protected by this law.

It is impossible to say that if you hire a Chu national in the administrative territory, you can give him a situation below the minimum standard.

Therefore, after comprehensive consideration, this new minimum wage standard cannot be too high, otherwise many economically underdeveloped places will not be able to afford it, and it will be more difficult to develop if there is no advantage in labor costs.

But it cannot be too low. If it is too low, in some places where prices are relatively high, people’s income will be too low and it will not be enough.

Therefore, it is necessary to comprehensively consider the situation across the country to finally determine a number... and according to the old rules, the empire only stipulates a lower limit, and provinces and governments directly under its jurisdiction, administrative territories, states, etc. can increase it appropriately according to their actual conditions!

After several meetings and discussions, combined with the situation across the country, the Da Chu Empire finally finalized a new round of minimum wage standards.

The national unified minimum wage standard is [-] yuan. Each locality can increase it appropriately according to its own situation, but it cannot decrease it.

The minimum wage has increased from 50.00 yuan to [-] yuan now, an increase of [-]%.

This growth rate is already pretty good... In later generations, it would have to be directly compared to how many times wages have increased.

The reason why I say this is because the currency of the Da Chu Empire is a gold standard currency... The gold standard currency is very valuable, and it is impossible to carry out uncontrolled over-issuance of currency. You can print as much as you want.

There was no inflation in the Chu Empire under the gold standard. Instead, small amounts of deflation often occurred.

This is completely different from the situation in later generations where countries generally adopt credit-based currency, conduct excessive currency issuance every year, and give you a fixed number of percentage points of inflation.

In the era of the gold standard, a fifty percent wage increase was a real increase for you...

Instead of giving you a salary increase on the surface and covering it with inflation on the back foot, in reality...it doesn't even increase by half a cent, and there may even be a situation where the actual income decreases after deducting inflation.

This is a special case of credit currency, which is completely different from the gold standard pursued by the Dachu Empire today.

In the Great Chu Empire, there was no price increase. On the contrary... the prices of various living supplies, especially the prices of food, had declined slightly compared to ten years ago.

As a result, the salary income received by the people is actually higher.

From the perspective of grain prices, according to the current minimum wage standard of 50.00 yuan, the growth rate is not only [-]% on the surface, but the actual situation may reach about [-]% or [-]%, and even in some areas it can Reaching more than [-]%.

To measure whether income has increased or not, other data are not very reliable. Just calculate 'how much food can the income buy'...

Assumption: The income ten years ago can buy one thousand kilograms of rice. If the income ten years later can buy one thousand five hundred kilograms of rice, then the income has increased.

On the other hand, if the income in ten years is no longer enough to buy a thousand kilograms of rice, then it means that the income has dropped.

Why do you say that?
Because this involves a more critical data, that is: the proportion of total food expenditure to total personal consumption expenditure, that is, the Engel index.

This data can very intuitively reflect the living standard of a region.

Therefore, when measuring economic data such as prices and income, food prices are the most reliable.

After all, people depend on food!
When the Dachu Empire set the minimum wage standard, it also took into account the basic people's livelihood conditions.

Of course, the standard set by the Dachu Empire can only ensure the lower limit, so that people at the bottom, husband and wife working at the same time, can feed the family... and not starve to death!

But if you want to live a better life, you need more income.

In fact, the current minimum wage standards in most regions have exceeded the latest national minimum standards established by the empire.

These days you only get [-] yuan, but you have to ask the employees to work full-time for you for a month... Why don't you go to hell, people do more than this for part-time jobs.

The overall national standard is relatively low, and each locality will formulate new standards based on this standard and combined with its own economic development.

Taking Songjiang Prefecture as an example, after the new national standards were issued, Jiangnan Province also issued new provincial standards, with the minimum income being [-] Chu Yuan.

On the Songjiang Mansion side, the Chu Yuan is [-], which is an increase of [-] Chu Yuan from last year's [-] Chu Yuan.Songjiang Prefecture's minimum wage standard of [-] yuan is among the highest in the country... However, the actual income of local low-income groups is even higher, generally reaching around [-] yuan... …Of course, this higher income often requires long overtime work.

Companies would not be so kind and spend more money to hire ordinary workers who can be found on the streets.

They usually give you a minimum wage directly, then arrange overtime work and pay you some overtime pay, so that your comprehensive income exceeds the minimum wage.

If the factory is not running well and there is not much business and there is no need to work overtime, then employees can only get the minimum wage.

This is why the Dachu Empire has set maximum working hours, mandated higher overtime fees, and stipulated maximum overtime hours... The empire's top officials know very well that companies will inevitably tend to make employees work longer for the sake of profit. time.

So we simply imposed restrictions on the legal level.

This time, while the Dachu Empire established a minimum wage standard, it also issued a new maximum working hour standard.

After extensively listening to opinions from all parties, the Empire has introduced the latest maximum working time standards, which include four days of paid rest per month under normal circumstances, excluding statutory holidays.

Regular working hours shall not exceed nine hours per day, and overtime shall not exceed three hours.

The salary during overtime is [-] times the normal salary, twice the salary for overtime work on monthly holidays, and three times the salary for overtime work on legal holidays.

In fact, compared with before, the normal working hours have been reduced by one hour, but the total working hours are still controlled within twelve hours... Mainly because many companies say that they really need employees to work overtime when they are busy, even if they pay more for it. overtime expenses.

And employees also need a certain amount of overtime to get higher overtime pay... Especially for lower-level workers, without overtime pay, they can basically only get the local minimum wage.

After comprehensive consideration of various circumstances, the empire's senior officials continued to retain the maximum total working time of twelve hours.

There have been basically no changes in other aspects, and the corresponding labor protection laws have also undergone some detailed adjustments, but the overall situation is not major. After all, the labor protection laws implemented by the Dachu Empire were already very complete, and it can even be said that they were already in place. beyond the productivity of the time.

As of now, the Dachu Empire's labor protection laws are actually just in line with productivity standards.

It must be clear that any improvement in welfare and living standards is based on the premise of increased productivity.

For example, in contemporary indigenous countries in Europe, West Asia, India and other regions, if they imitate the Chu Empire and play with labor protection laws, they can go bankrupt in minutes.

Not to mention imitating the minimum wage standard implemented by the Great Chu Empire... The minimum wage in Songjiang Prefecture is six point six Chu Yuan. If this wage level were brought to Europe, it could make any local workshop owner go bankrupt. !

In addition, the minimum wage standards and maximum working time regulations of the Dachu Empire seem good, but in fact only some formal large companies comply with them. If it is a small business, especially some service industries, many small factories and the like are not very Observed.

And many workers are unable to find legal means to protect themselves when their interests are infringed.

Many people don't even know that there is such a law as labor protection law.

At the same time, it is difficult for the official power of the empire to comprehensively monitor all employment relationships... If workers do not report it, it will be difficult for them to take the initiative to uphold labor protection laws.

So the law is the law, but the reality is the reality.

If you want to truly increase people's income, the most important thing is to maintain overall economic development. If the overall economy develops, people's income will naturally increase.

Otherwise, if the economy is not developing well, no matter how high legal standards are set, it will be useless.

Therefore, immediately after the release of the new round of minimum wage standards and maximum working hours, the senior officials of the Dachu Empire discussed a number of economic development stimulus policies.

And these economic policies are also different from the so-called economic policies in later countries, because they basically don’t consider money or not, but rather the supply of resources.

Because when resources are fixed, no matter how your economy circulates, the resources are where they are and will not increase at all.

Things like average income and living standards ultimately come down to resources, whether minerals or agricultural and livestock resources.

If the total amount of resources increases, then the resources available for distribution will increase, and supplemented by a reasonable allocation method, it can promote the improvement of people's living standards.

Now what the senior officials of the Da Chu Empire have to think about is how to obtain more resources.

For example, increasing more grain production... Although per capita grain consumption has now exceeded [-] kilograms, the supply of meat and various non-staple foods is still seriously insufficient, and the supply of meat seems to have nothing to do with grain production when it is a small matter. , but if the meat supply is to be increased on a large scale, it will be related to the food supply.

Because large-scale breeding of various types of meat requires the use of a large amount of feed, and feed is processed from supplementary grains, such as corn, which is the main feed raw material.

Corn is also one of the grains.

As for non-staple foods, such as various types of tofu, canned food, etc., the production of many non-staple foods is actually inseparable from the supply of grain.

Therefore, in the future, continuing to increase the production of various grains, cash crops, and meat to ensure sufficient supply will still be the most important part of the economic development of the Dachu Empire.

Secondly, it is to increase the development and supply of various mineral resources.

Agricultural and livestock products and minerals are the most basic resources. If you want to improve people's livelihood, both are indispensable.

When the empire's top officials frequently discussed various resource supply issues, Luo Zhixue naturally focused on oil resources.

Naturally, Luo Zhixue knew the use of oil. However, due to the immature technology, there was no easy-to-exploit oil in the country, and it was expensive to transport oil from overseas.

Therefore, Luo Zhixue did not take the initiative to promote the exploration and application of oil on a large scale. For a long time, the empire's oil industry only consisted of spontaneous small-scale oil exploration and application, which was a scrap industry.

But during this period, Luo Zhixue learned that the Royal Institute of Technology had successfully refined kerosene from petroleum, and he knew it was time to increase the development and application of petroleum.

Although the main product of petroleum at this stage is kerosene, kerosene is mainly used for lighting.

However, the application of petroleum was extremely extensive in the later period, such as as a power source for internal combustion engines and as a raw material source for various chemical products.

A series of final applications of petroleum and the supply of large amounts of petroleum resources can greatly improve the productivity of the entire society, facilitate people's lives, and improve people's income levels.

Under such circumstances, Luo Zhixue quickly personally instructed the Royal Assets Department to first establish an oil company to survey, mine, and refine oil. This company was the Royal Petroleum Company of the Dachu Empire.

Subsequently, the Ministry of Industry followed suit and established the Dachu Imperial Industrial Petroleum Company.

These two oil companies also obtained patents for petroleum refining kerosene technology authorized by the Royal Institute of Technology, and then began the process of searching for oil fields all over the world for development!

At present, there are actually some small oil fields in the empire, which were spontaneously exploited by the market in the past. However, these small oil fields have small output and smaller reserves. Apart from being used for research and small-scale use, they do not have much value.

The two oil companies in the empire are working on large-scale oil fields, and then extracting and refining large amounts of kerosene to supply massive markets.

The first company to find a large oil field was the Royal Petroleum Company... Actually, it is not considered to have been found. They directly purchased a small private oil factory in Shaanxi and Gansu, and then used more advanced machinery and equipment to conduct surveys in the original small oil wells. After mining, an oil well with a daily output of several tons of oil was built.

But then the industrial oil company came over and drilled oil wells next door... and several oil wells were drilled out.

Soon, the oil production of the Dachu Empire reached hundreds of tons per day.

But this is far from enough. It only takes about a hundred tons a day, and the amount of kerosene produced is even less, only about one-third, that is, only a few dozen tons of kerosene.

This small amount of kerosene can be transported to you by just a few tank trains, but there is no way of supplying it to the market on a large scale.

So the two royal oil companies continued to search for oil fields all over the world. They went to various places where oil had been discovered. Unfortunately, the results were not great... In East Asia, there are no oil fields that are easy to exploit, so they found Yumen. The oil fields are pretty good.

But it's still not enough!
There is no other way. The two major oil companies can only go to overseas territories to survey and exploit. After all, there are many places overseas where open-pit crude oil has already appeared, such as in Southeast Asia, America and other places.

Luo Zhixue also gave them some direct advice, saying that they could go to the Gulf of Mexico in North America, the coast of the Persian Gulf in West Asia, and the South China Sea. Traces of oil had been reported in these places before.

But once this was done, it was out of control. In the winter of December 44, the Royal Petroleum Company discovered an oil field with extremely large reserves in Borneo.

Immediately afterwards, their company discovered a very large oil field in the Kuwait area of ​​​​West Asia.

Then came the industrial oil companies, who also discovered very large oil fields in the Mexican coast of North America.

In just a few months, the oil reserves discovered by the Chu Empire reached a very terrifying figure...

This is actually quite normal!

After all, the places where human beings operate on a global scale, except for the hinterland of Africa, are basically the direct jurisdiction or administrative territories of the Chu people, or even the territories of vassal states.

There are actually a lot of all kinds of minerals, if needed and mined... According to simple statistics, the various iron ore reserves that the empire has discovered, based on the current iron ore consumption of the empire, are enough for the empire to use for tens of thousands of years. …

The reason why minerals are not mined in many places is simply that after taking into account the mining and freight costs, the cost is too high to justify it.