The Budget

Generali

cells wrote: »

of course companies can increase the wages they pay their staff

For athe supermarkets it would mean increasing the price they sell their goods for by a couple of %

Or more automation, e.g. more self-service tills.

michaels

cells wrote: »

of course companies can increase the wages they pay their staff

For athe supermarkets it would mean increasing the price they sell their goods for by a couple of %

Or employing a few percent fewer staff so longer queues, worse customer service etc and more unemployment. This is the French 'solution' - higher pay and more productivity by leaving the 10% least productive unemployed....

Thrugelmir

cells wrote: »

For athe supermarkets it would mean increasing the price they sell their goods for by a couple of %

The discounters have already changed the market. The last thing the majors are going to do is increase margins. Totally the reverse in fact.

wotsthat

Or some of all the above.

There's probably s social benefit to the taxpayer to pay people to effectively work for benefits. Less mental health issues, better chance of career progression, good example to family etc. It's probably worth retaining in work benefits to an extent but there's a balance to be found between the benefit to the taxpayer and employers and their customers taking the !!!!.

CLAPTON

wotsthat wrote: »

Or some of all the above.

There's probably s social benefit to the taxpayer to pay people to effectively work for benefits. Less mental health issues, better chance of career progression, good example to family etc. It's probably worth retaining in work benefits to an extent but there's a balance to be found between the benefit to the taxpayer and employers and their customers taking the !!!!.

customers are taxpayers
taxpayers are customers

Mistermeaner

Custaxompayers

Graham_Devon

Seems the pace of cuts is now to be slowed.

Osbourne plans to tell us tommorow that instead of taking 2 years to cut £12bn, it will now take 3 years.

The inheritance tax thing also no longer appears to be classed as a cut, rather an increase to £1m.

As for tax credits, it apears currently that the cuts will be aimed at those with more than 2 children, but will only hit those new to the system, which is fair enough I guess, at least people know the score.

cells

michaels wrote: »

Or employing a few percent fewer staff so longer queues, worse customer service etc and more unemployment. This is the French 'solution' - higher pay and more productivity by leaving the 10% least productive unemployed....

The unemployment rate in France over the last 10 years has been about 2% higher on average than in the UK

I am not sure you can conclude with any certainty which country is more productive let alone conclude with any certainty that it has much to do with a minimum wage.


my own view is that it wont have a big national impact. that buyers of minimum wage goods and services will be a bit worse off and that sellers of minimum wage goods and services will be a lot better off.

cells

Thrugelmir wrote: »

The discounters have already changed the market. The last thing the majors are going to do is increase margins. Totally the reverse in fact.

your not increasing margin if you pay more and charge more

the discounters will also have to pay the higher wage, but they tend to employ fewer people so their cost increase should be lower.

an argument made is that companies will push faster for automation and that will result in job losses. however when have machines replacing humans at certain tasks lead to a worse situation for the nation as a whole down the line?

cells

Generali wrote: »

Or more automation, e.g. more self-service tills.

sure but that's a good thing in the medium to long term

also although people see the downside to business in having to pay lets say £10B more in wages were the min wage increased to £10ph. What about the upside in receiving £10B more in sales?