Why Is The Minimum Wage Not The Same As The Living Wage ?

[Old_Geezer]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-23953573

Why is the taxpayer expected to make up the difference between what is necessary and what an employer is allowed to get away with ? (Allowing cheap labour to be imported from abroad amongst other things.)

If the potential employer can't fund the necessary staff then they don't have a working proposition and should go find an opportunity that is.

Scandalous.

[ummmm]

It's not the employers fault that the cost of living is so expensive.

[Old_Geezer]

Not saying it is, but if they don't get forced to factor that in then they are being allowed to exploit others. Either their staff or the taxpayer, and probably both.

[Cloverjo]

I agree, OG. I read somewhere that even the Queen, one of the richest women in the world, pays some of her household staff the minimum wage which is,of course, topped up by tax credits etc. paid for by tax payers.
I understand, though, that small businesses might struggle to pay more and that jobs might be lost if they had to. On the whole, people should get a living wage.

[ummmm]

When prices keep rising, gas, electrcity etc...they rise for the employer too. I think they only way to judge an employer is to look at their profit margin.

[VHG]

The cost of living in this country is so high because of our high taxes.

One reason is we allow hundreds of thousands of people to claim benefits, which all has to be paid for out of "taxes".

The Housing Benefit cost alone is over 20 BILLION pounds a year.

What a stupid situation where a government has to subsidise its population to pay for housing.

And all it probably does is drive up the price of renting a property.

If housing benefit was reduced or stopped you would soon see rent prices plummeting.

I bet other countries don't have such huge Housing benefit bills.

[AB Editor]

"The cost of living in this country is so high because of our high taxes."

No, not this alone. Do you not think house prices might have something to do with it? And the ponzi scheme set up by the post-war generation?

[ummmm]

The cost of housing is ridiculous.

[AB Editor]

I think it is a little unfair to lay all the blame on the housing welfare budget when there's a bunch of greedy pensioners out there selfishly living longer than the state intended or ever planned for ;)

[DrFilth]

a lot of people are having problems with the new benefit cuts and the bedroom tax is making a big problem

http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/citizens-advice-bureau-research-reveals-5831149

[Svejk]

While I agree with you OG, isn't there a danger if the government stopped subsidising our 'low-wage economy' and started collecting appropriate taxes more businesses would move abroad.
Something needs to be done but its hard to know where to start.

[jake-the-peg]

//It's not the employers fault that the cost of living is so expensive. //

Well it kind of is isn't it?

These employers produce goods and services that we produce and they add a whopping great profit margin onto those costs.

That profit margin is of course worked out to maximise their profit margins

Simultaneously they've been able to limit pay rises to below the rate of inflation because of people's fear of losing their jobs

So I'd say they have to bear at least part of the blame

[Octavius]

Yes, whatever happened to those anti-capitalist marches?

[ummmm]

Depends on the employer.

What about the employer that only employs 3 members of staff?

[weecalf]

Would have though minimum wage is the least the employer can pay and that a lot of them would do the decent thing and pay the worker above this awful low rate set by people who would turn round for 20 time it

[Old_Geezer]

Businesses may be less inclined to move abroad if there were barriers to importing goods deemed to have been produced by exploited labour. Or if the stick isn't an option folk are happy with, or feel could be implemented without major issues, one could probably better spend public money investing in home grown businesses instead.