Adult minimum wage to rise by 19p per hour

M0ney

Carl31 wrote: »

If people can't live on NMW, what did they do before it was introduced? I'm pretty sure there was no tax credits then either

I don't recall seeing many people on the streets, in fact I worked in a supermarket where colleagues were managing to buy houses on their low wages

Inflation has devalued our currency hugely since 1999 when the NMW was first introduced! Especially housing costs.

falko89

amiehall wrote: »

I've lived quite reasonably when I was earning about £6.40 before and I was too young to be entitled to tax credits at the time (which is a joke in itself...)

I was living in north England at the time though, I wouldn't particularly want to be living in London on that.

I own my own car, I take foreign holidays, and I've been able to save up almost enough for a house deposit. I definitely was able to do more than survive on close to NMW.

Please fill us in on how you did this because for me it is a struggle. We have a car to keep, rent to pay, food to put on the table, by the time we do this we are broke, Holidays? I've never left the UK and even now I work my annual leave as can't afford to go anywhere or do anything so no point sitting around the house bored, the money saved comes in handy for Xmas, in fact we wouldn't be able to do Xmas without it.

makeyourdaddyproud

buster1955 wrote: »

In 2006, I started a job in a petrol station on the minimum wage of £5.35 an hour. Eight years later, I am still on the minimum wage, thanks to the Tory Government not wanting to upset the people who vote for them (employers). My boss promised me a wage rise three months after he took over the garage, and apart from the NMW going up, I have never had a pay rise.

Everytime the Low Pay Unit (I bet the idiots that think up these rises aren't on minimum pay!) announce a rise, the employers whinge and whine about 'How hard up they are, and we'll have to cut back on the staff'...to be honest, I couldn't give a monkey's fart.

PAY people what they are worth, instead of expecting your lowly employees to get by on the pittance you pay them, with their ever increasing bills for everything they have to pay, and expecting them to feel sorry for you!!

The key point here, and one which passed you by, is the fact that your still doing that job - albeit at a rate deemed insufficient by you.

You're EXACTLY behaving the way the gov want you to behave, in order to keep inflation and the NMW down.

The problem for most people is that the NMW is never enough. 40 hours is STILL £260 a week.

The other side of the coin is that if you pay people more, they generally spend more, confidence rises, and so too prices. Then Britain starts becoming uncompetitive.

You all forget that should you become ill, NHS will help you, lose your job, the DWP will help until your next job. Retiring? A state pension awaits. CTC and WTC are there to help where applicable too.

Time to stop moaning I think!

BillJones

falko89 wrote: »

Please fill us in on how you did this because for me it is a struggle.

Two people, each on the minimum wage, each doing 60 hours per week, is about £40.000 per year.

Many people in "professional" jobs manage this amount of time at work, and many have both people in the partnership working.

Podge52

BillJones wrote: »

Two people, each on the minimum wage, each doing 60 hours per week, is about £40.000 per year.

Many people in "professional" jobs manage this amount of time at work, and many have both people in the partnership working.

You're not wrong but 60 hours sat using your head is a bit different to 60 hours of hard manual labor.

makeyourdaddyproud

Podge52 wrote: »

You're not wrong but 60 hours sat using your head is a bit different to 60 hours of hard manual labor.

You can be mentally tired too. Not sure I could handle 60 hours of complex computer programming, which is challenging. Believe me.

BillJones

Podge52 wrote: »

You're not wrong but 60 hours sat using your head is a bit different to 60 hours of hard manual labor.

Yes, I know, so for some minimum wage jobs it's not practical, but there are also a fair few which don't involve shifting heavy weights outdoors as well.

Denning.

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.

Completely. It's a systemic problem. Taking money from someone in tax just to give back in benefits is stupid. IMO it is the biggest cause of the 'entitlement culture'. People pay tax and think they have a right to a near unlimited amount of benefits, because 'they paid in', despite paying in a fraction of what they take out.

I don't necessary have an issue with redistribution of wealth, I do have a problem when people think 'I paid in, it's my money' when in reality the money isn't theirs, its taken from another worker.

Abolish loads of benefits, reduce tax and give a tax free allowance that equals living wage. No one will be worst of, and everyone will have a truer picture of the countries finance.

Perhaps have an annual statement to each national insurance number, you paid X direct taxes, you received Y benefits. This would be a reasonable next step after UC (by which I mean a single benefit system, not necessarily IDS UC)

gadgetmind

Podge52 wrote: »

You're not wrong but 60 hours sat using your head is a bit different to 60 hours of hard manual labor.

They lead to a different kind of tired, but which is best is like asking whether it's better to be far too hot or far too cold.

Denning.

makeyourdaddyproud wrote: »

You can be mentally tired too. Not sure I could handle 60 hours of complex computer programming, which is challenging. Believe me.

Completely, I think people underestimate how tiring mentally expensive work can be. After my 3.5 hour uni exams I was beat, brain was unable to comprehend the most basic of tasks.