The New Minimum Wage 2016 ?

milliemonster

Regulation costs a lot of money, and the amount of regulations care homes need to adhere to costs, a robot can't ever do a drug round, when I'm giving drugs to patients I'm comparing whats on the drug card to how the patient is, how they are feeling, if they have had any side effects from a drug they've had previously, interactions between drugs having an effect on their wellbeing and making a decision about whether a drug they are prescribed to have at that time, is actually appropriate to be given, this is why you need a nursing qualification to administer drugs, it is not just a case of handing out what is noted on the drug card robotically.

As for the new minimum wage/living wage, whatever, people should be paid enough to sustain a minimum standard of living without state support, if business can't support this, then they either change their business model to support paying employees properly, or they go under. Any business who can't afford to pay employees enough to live on, shouldn't be operating.

ohreally

milliemonster wrote: »

Any business who can't afford to pay employees enough to live on, shouldn't be operating.

Who would decide what this figure is? Any uplift would erode the pay differential between lower/ higher grades, how would this be addressed?

sangie595

MatthewAinsworth wrote: »

Would doing so lead me to different conclusions? I'm open to being told where I'm wrong and what can't be done, but I'll try to find ways that robotics could work (and remember they can drive, so times are changing, they're capable of more than we think)

All perfectly true. It could be possible, and some robots can currently do an awful lot of things that we never thought possible. But have you seen the price of these things - the rarity of them - and can you imagine the maintenance and repair bills? Minimum wage people are cheaper, far from rare, and the maintenance and repair bills are their own problem. Why would businesses want to take on all that risk when they have a cheaper alternative?

sangie595

MatthewAinsworth wrote: »

Remember higher wages mean richer customers too

It's 50p an hour more for over 25 year olds. Some £912 a year or thereabouts on a full time wage before tax. They really must be careful what they rush out and spend it on. No wasting it on higher food bills, rents and all the other increased costs that will be passed on to the customers with their new found largesse.

What people fail to grasp is that the bottom of the pile is always the bottom of the pile, no matter what you set the bottom as. Only the rich get richer.

System

Sangie - I think cheapness will come with time and mass production, there's perhaps more to save from professional jobs

Millie - perhaps before robots are able to read illness that could still be done from a nurse, but their work could at least be reduced. When it can read illness it could function as doctor too. Lots of jobs will progress the same robot technology

And I agree that businesses that can't pay don't really deserve to be there, its a sign of overcrowded markets. Then again more businesses even at low wages could up the labour demand and general wages naturally - at the end of the day the automation that's already happened means there's an oversupply of labour and before too long the working week / retirement age will have to shorten to control the unemployment

Takeaway_Addict

ohreally wrote: »

Who would decide what this figure is? Any uplift would erode the pay differential between lower/ higher grades, how would this be addressed?

For some it wouldn't and hasn't in the past, 1.9m in 99 had their wages upped to the starting NMW, it will be 6m in April.

It is a fallocy that businesses will suddenly see lots more money hitting their tills by increaseing NMW/Living wage.

sangie595

MatthewAinsworth wrote: »

Sangie - I think cheapness will come with time and mass production, there's perhaps more to save from professional jobs

Millie - perhaps before robots are able to read illness that could still be done from a nurse, but their work could at least be reduced. When it can read illness it could function as doctor too. Lots of jobs will progress the same robot technology

And I agree that businesses that can't pay don't really deserve to be there, its a sign of overcrowded markets. Then again more businesses even at low wages could up the labour demand and general wages naturally - at the end of the day the automation that's already happened means there's an oversupply of labour and before too long the working week / retirement age will have to shorten to control the unemployment

I heard all that in the 1960's. And the '70's. And the '80's. Still waiting for it. Sorry, but whether a robot can and will do something in the future I can't predict. What I do know is that it would take a major revolution to make the world a better place for the people in it. We currently have an oversupply of labour - and retirement ages are rising and working weeks are getting longer for many. There is no evidence at all that automation of anything means better employment or a rise is living standards - all the evidence says the contrary.

System

Sangie - I think automation has been slowly rolling on all that time - internet banking, email, computers, dishwashers, robotic vacuums, online shopping, etc, all are saving time

I think automation just hasn't yet gone far enough to really hit working week / retirement age, but eventually it'll cause a real unemployment problem and some sort of controls will have to be brought in, or a citizens income. The reasons for extra working at the moment are just government finances I believe

PasturesNew

Not all care workers are on NMW. I just looked where my mum was and they currently pay about £1 over NMW, plus the community carers are paid for their travel time.

£19-20k for a Deputy Manager, for about 30 residents.

Location: Somewhere that's known for its low pay county-wide.

noelphobic

scooby088 wrote: »

Its called the living wage and will be £7.20 for over 25's the NMW will still be £6.70 for under 25's. plus I can see the reduction in hours too.

They're calling it the National Living Wage but it's just a new name for what was the minimum wage.

I shouted at the TV when Osborne announced this nonsense.