Adult minimum wage to rise by 19p per hour 12 March 2014 at 4:42PM in Employment, jobseeking & training 111 replies 9K views

Former_MSE_Michael

"The minimum wage is to increase by 3% from October, the first time in six years the rise will be higher than inflation..."

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Adult minimum wage to rise by 19p per hour



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davenport151

The scary thing is as firms put their wages up less and less each time (or not at all) some hourly rates will soon be level with minimum wage.

Nick_C

Disappointing. It doesn't affect me, but I was expecting something significant. We need to make businesses pay a living wage, so we are subsidising them through welfare benefits.

trollopscarletwoman

Nick_C wrote: »

Disappointing. It doesn't affect me, but I was expecting something significant. We need to make businesses pay a living wage, so we are subsidising them through welfare benefits.

Totally agree.

Should have been a hell of a lot more. And across the board. At least a £1 more.

20aday

I've been fortunate enough to be on £6.50 an hour for the last six years so today's news is welcome (even though I feel it should've been more.)

At least MY Boss will be happy; they won't have to give me a pay rise!

trollopscarletwoman

20aday wrote: »

I've been fortunate enough to be on £6.50 an hour for the last six years so today's news is welcome (even though I feel it should've been more.)

At least MY Boss will be happy; they won't have to give me a pay rise!

That's the problem isn't it?

When on a slight differential nmw increases catch up and bosses don't have to restore the differential. Happens to my Mrs.

Takeaway_Addict

Said it before and will say it again...NMW is a problem in itself, it destroyed natural supply and demand and devalued ALOT of jobs.

Those that say employers should pay alot more forget that companies will have to still make the profit so cost of goods will go up and chances are companies will restructure costing jobs. The governments creating benefits to compensate has also helped caused the problem because again it makes people comfortable in the jobs they have and stops people striving for better paid jobs because once the benefits are readjusted it makes no difference.

The horse has bolted as they say.

gadgetmind

We pay 19/20yo placement students around £8 per hour during their sandwich years and get good value from them.

That the UK has so many adults with fewer valuable skills than a 20 year old student must surely be at least part of the problem?

mattcanary

Takeaway_Addict wrote: »

Said it before and will say it again...NMW is a problem in itself, it destroyed natural supply and demand and devalued ALOT of jobs.

Those that say employers should pay alot more forget that companies will have to still make the profit so cost of goods will go up and chances are companies will restructure costing jobs. The governments creating benefits to compensate has also helped caused the problem because again it makes people comfortable in the jobs they have and stops people striving for better paid jobs because once the benefits are readjusted it makes no difference.

The horse has bolted as they say.

National Minimum Wage isn;t the problem. The introduction of Tax Credits though probably did lead to this situation. The minimum wage would have prevented some unscrupulous employers from paying a really low wage (well, the ones that did not wish to break the law anyway).
However, Tax Credits have resulted in many companies thinking that the government will compensate employees, for their paying a low wage. Therefore they palmed off the responsibility for paying employees a reasonable wage, knowing the government will make up the shortfall. Governments should not be responsible for this - employers should.
And like you say, it can discourage employees from moving to better paid work with more responsibilities, or working extra hours for extra pay.

tomtontom

mattcanary wrote: »

National Minimum Wage isn;t the problem. The introduction of Tax Credits though probably did lead to this situation. The minimum wage would have prevented some unscrupulous employers from paying a really low wage (well, the ones that did not wish to break the law anyway).
However, Tax Credits have resulted in many companies thinking that the government will compensate employees, for their paying a low wage. Therefore they palmed off the responsibility for paying employees a reasonable wage, knowing the government will make up the shortfall. Governments should not be responsible for this - employers should.
And like you say, it can discourage employees from moving to better paid work with more responsibilities, or working extra hours for extra pay.

I work with several small businesses, and tax credits/ state benefits do not come into the conversation when wages are being reviewed. All the employers ask is what is the minimum we can pay to recruit/ retain the staff we need? The answer is minimum wage, and would be lower if NMW did not exist. If workers want higher wages they should improve their skills set accordingly.

Nick_C

But if tax credits did not exist (and they have been around for a long time, it was previously Family Income Supplement), people wouldn't accept jobs paying NMW. They wouldn't be able to afford to live on such low wages.