Employers expecting people to work for £6.50 an hour!!

Googlewhacker

teabelly wrote: »

Wages are far too low. The value of money halves roughly every 15 years. The average wage in 1995 was 17k. Just to keep up with the loss in value of money average wage needs to be £34k.

Cost of living is also alot cheaper thank 15 years ago as well

maceuk

markbass wrote: »

What is it with the employers out there that expect the earth from employees for between 6 and 7 quid an hour, it's a disgrace to expect people to work for these sorts of sums, i remember the wages were higher than this ten years ago, is it a case of Employers taking advantage of the lack of jobs about, knowing damn well they'll be takers for their measly wage?

My husband works 12 hours days for minimum wage, im one of the long term unemployed i would work for £6 an hour no problem.

hellokittygal

I work in a private nursery and get paid 5p and hour more than NMW.

I can manage on that, i just manage my money and cut back on stuff not needed. I clothes shop in sales, have a cheap mobile phone plan.
I can affod luxury things such as dvd's etc as i do not go out every month, maybe once every couple of months.

I admit that usually by pay day i am skint, but i have never had a credit card or overdraft an never want on.

Arg

dmg24 wrote: »

Why is a car a necessity? Are you banned from public transport?

It sounds like you are. :rotfl:

bigheadxx

teabelly wrote: »

It was in the press recently that an organisation had calculated that for a single person to have a reasonable standard of living, not including running a car, it required a salary of £14k. That is more than minimum wage. I would have said that was the basic minimum salary. Why should people be forced to live a life of penury because they're not the brightest? Not everyone has the brain to get A-levels, degrees and so forth to get the better paid jobs but it shouldn't mean they have to have a miserable existence.

Wages are far too low. The value of money halves roughly every 15 years. The average wage in 1995 was 17k. Just to keep up with the loss in value of money average wage needs to be £34k.

The UK should stop competing with sweat shops and start paying decent wages. Then we wouldn't need to pay money out on tax credits and other wastes of money. Employers should be paying decent wages in the first place. Why should the tax payer be subsidising these low wage merchants? Either raise the NMW or raise taxes on profits on organisations that have more than a certain percentage of employees eligible for tax credits because the full time salary is too low.

1. Not everybody who has A-levels or a degree earns a high salary. In fact there are plenty of graduates at the moment who ARE earning NMW.

2. Any increase in the NMW simply increases the cost of providing goods and services that everybody, including the low paid, rely on:

So say you get an extra £50 p/w? Go to Asda and find out that your shopping bill is £15 higher because they have increased their prices to pay for the pay increase. Go to the local pub and find out that your pint is 50p more. Go for fish and chips on Friday night and find out that is an extra £1. Fill up with petrol and its an extra 5p a litre. Go for a haircut, an extra £3 please.

These industries and many more pay low wages and the only outcome, which happened most notably in the care industry after NMW was increased, was a significant increase in cost to the end user.

Tippytoes

Interesting comments. There is a world of difference between what someone is PAID and what they EARN. Think fat cat bankers who are so b****y intelligent, they brought the country to its knees. Think moronic politicians who, not happy with decent salaries, then stole from taxpayers.

Then spare a thought for the educated, wannabe workers who can't get jobs because they are what they are. This country does not need educated, skilled workers anymore. Employers want cheap (preferably NMW) workers who can afford to work for peanuts.

This is why Eastern Europeans will always find work. Wages will stay artificially low, until the time comes when they have had enough and go home.

Indie_Kid

donquine wrote: »

£6/ph at 40 hours p/w = £880 take home.

Here, rent starts at £500 and council tax at £85 (assuming single person discount). A bus pass is £55.

On top of that, you need to consider the costs of fuel (gas/electricity), prescriptions (depending on where in the UK you live), food, toiletries, internet, tv licence, a landline, a cheap PAYG mobile... These are all what I would consider basic living costs.

1. You don't "need" a TV licence.
2. A pre-payment certificate for prescriptions works out at £10 per month.
3. Walk instead of getting bus, or get a bicycle.
4. There are many deals around for gas, electric, landline, internet, etc. You just have to shop around a bit.

payless

Are we talking a single person here ?

£500pm rent

I've seen 2 bed houses rent in fairly nice areas go for £425 , so 2 sharing thats £50pw each


When I was younger ( working) I used to rent a bedsit.. single room lounge/bedroom kitchen, and a shared bathroom, not great but better than a tin hut in slums of Bombay/ JoBurg

thorsoak

Now I have no knowledge of this - but would not someone who is on NMW be entitled to housing benefit & council tax benefit? Not to mention child tax credits/child allowance if s/he has children?

Or are we talking about people under the age of 25?

shirlgirl2004

My son earns NMW and lives OK. He walks to work (20 minutes), lives in a shared house in a fairly expensive area for £400 a month which includes everything but his food and personal items. He plays football as a hobby and spends his spare money on computer games and the like. He might not like how much he earns but then he should have stayed at uni longer and ended up with more than a HND. It's his choice, if he wants to he can go back to uni as it is he chooses to do a shift manager role for McD.