3% Rise In Minimum Wage Proposed.

[mikey4444]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-26355725

This will mean a rise from £6.31 to £6.50 an hour, a increase of just 19p. In 2014, shouldn't we as a nation be even slightly ashamed that we consider £6.50 an hour a living wage ? Of course, Osborne could ignore the Low Pay Commissions recommendations and authorise a larger increase, something he recently said he was in favour of. So can we now trust this Government to put its money where its mouth is ?

[factor-fiction]

I used to oppose the idea of a minimum wage but am now in favour of it. The main reason is that benefits have reached a level where they are often greater than a full week's work on the minimum wage. £7 an hour seems about right- and is not a bad amount for some (eg a young adult who lives with parents, or someone with a working partner) but is not enough for the main breadwinner in a family. Anything more than £7 would just make the UK even less competitive, would reduce employment and would have implications for differentials for more highly skilled staff.

[pixie373]

I think it should be about £7. Although i thought working tax credit topped up poor pay, anyway? But employers should be paying for their own staff.

[Old_Geezer]

It isn't being considered a living wage, it's being considered a minimum wage. It is acknowledged there is a difference and the taxpayer can subsidise with welfare whether they like it or not.

[mikey4444]

But why should we taxpayers subsidise employers ? People should be able to earn a living wage, without depending on handouts from the State.

[Gromit]

An interesting article here...

// National minimum wage not fit for purpose, says its founding father
Professor Sir George Bain, who chaired the low pay commission when the minimum wage was introduced, says it needs updating. 

The founding father of the national minimum wage has said the system is no longer fit for purpose and must change in order to tackle Britain's low pay problem.

Professor Sir George Bain chaired the low pay commission (LPC) when the minimum wage was introduced 15 years ago. For it to last another 15 years it urgently needs updating to tackle new issues in the labour market, he said on Friday.  //

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/feb/21/national-minimum-wage-not-fit-purpose-sir-george-bain-low-pay

[New Judge]

Taxpayers are not really subsidising employers, Mikey, they are subsidising their customers. As an example, the nation’s shoppers want cheap supermarket prices. Tescos et al pay most of their shop floor workers the minimum wage or thereabouts. If Tescos were to increase their workers’ wages by, say, 30% (to take them up to about £9.30 an hour) their prices would probably have to rise by a similar amount because Tesco’s run on quite low overall margins. So the choice is either cheap prices at Tescos and taxpayer support for their workers or increased bills at the checkout.

Most people are probably content with the current scheme. Those paying little or no tax will not worry (especially as many of them will be recipients of tax credits anyway) and if their wages were to be increased the inevitable rise in prices of "essentials" that would follow would proably see them worse off; those paying reasonable amounts of tax probably accept that if the money was not spent on the low paid it would be squandered on something else and they would be unlikely to see a reduction in their tax bill, so they might as well enjoy lower supermarket prices.

It’s all a sympton of the UK’s skewed economy.

[factor-fiction]

Our minimum wage in the UK seems pretty generous compared with the US minimum wage

[naomi24]

Mikey, was the minimum wage ever sufficient?

[mikey4444]

It was never designed to be "sufficient"

The clue is in the name...minimum. We should remember that the NMW was introduced by the Labour Government, under Tony Blair. It was one of the first laws that they passed after the landslide election victory of 1997, and the Tories who were in opposition at the time fought tooth and nail against it.

But, despite showing no sign of enthusiasm for bringing it in between May 1979 and May 1997, even the Tories eventually came around to the idea that the minimum wage was a good thing and they now support it.

Osborne was giving out some pretty positive signals recently, that he thought it was time for the NMW to have a real increase. I welcome this in the manner of a conversion on the road to Damascus and I am asking whether Osborne is now prepared to actually do something, rather than just talk about it. The ball is firmly in his court.

[mikey4444]

FF...comparisons with the United States are not easy to make. They do not have the same animal in regards to minimum wages as we do here. There are a number of different minimum wages but the Federal minimum wage is currently $7.25 an hour. If we use a conversion rate of $1 = 60p, that comes out as £4.35...as you say, less than ours. But their cost of living is much lower than ours...food, petrol, oil, gas and electric are all much lower than here, as anybody who has visited America can testify. So difficult to compare exactly.

[ToraToraTora]

It is not the job of governement to impose wage rates. The correct wage for any job will emerge naturally if left to it's own devices. Tinkering like this merely amplifies economic issues.

[mikey4444]

Emerge "naturally" ? What drivel ! If some employers has their way, they would still be sending small boys up chimneys and paying them one bowl of gruel a day.

Anyway, the argument is entirely academic, as all the main Parties now support the NMW. Its up to Osborne to accept the Low Pay Commission recommendations, or ignore them and make the rate higher.

What a pity we don't have a High Pay Commission, that we could use on the greedy bankers and the like !

[factor-fiction]

But of course a High Pay Commission would never work, because companies pay what they feel they need to pay to get the best staff in world markets. Anyway, those top earners actually pay the vast majority of the income tax paid in this country, mikey, so maybe we should encourage companies to pay even more to key staff

[DrFilth]

there are still plenty of people working for less than the minimum wage

if you want the job do the extra hours and keep your gob shut

[factor-fiction]

I agree with raising the MW as I said- I just think continually throwing the issue of bankers into these threads is an unnecessary diversion

[ToraToraTora]

"What a pity we don't have a High Pay Commission, that we could use on the greedy bankers and the like ! " - that would send your gloat index through the roof mikey!

[Old_Geezer]

Who gets subsidised is a matter of subjective opinion. Money flows around in circles; so one can push a benefit or loss as far around as one wishes. At each step the individual or organisation involved tries to achieve what benefits them most. Maybe they manage to pass something on, maybe they take the benefit or hit. Depends on where the power resides at the time.

IMO an enterprise should pay a living wage as a minimum. If they can not make their concern work like that then they don't have a viable business opportunity. People in full time employment should need no extras provided from a welfare system to support themselves and their modest sized family.

[naomi24]

Mikey, //It was never designed to be "sufficient" //

But isn't that what you're now asking for?

[LazyGun]

Seatec near Seattle in the USA made some news today, voting to raise minimum wage to $15/hour. The Federal Minimum Wage was raised from around $7 to $10 or so (£6.07/hr); UK it is currently £6.31/hr.

And it seems to me that many corporations are taking advantage of the tax-payers pockets to subsidize their profits.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/feb/22/seatac-minimum-wage-increase-washington