Labour to Raise Min Wage to £8

[Conniff]

The minimum wage would rise to £8 an hour over the course of the next parliament if Labour wins the general election, the party has pledged.

 

Leader Ed Miliband said it was "not good enough" that one in five people in the UK were on low pay.

But the Conservatives said they had already delivered an above-inflation increase as, from October, the minimum wage will rise from £6.31 to £6.50.

The minimum wage for adult workers was £5.80 at the time of the last election.

 

Chancellor George Osborne suggested, in an interview with BBC Political Editor Nick Robinson in January, that the minimum wage would rise to £7 an hour in 2015 to return the level it was at before the economic downturn.

'Wealth creators'

The rate is recommended by the Low Pay Commission, which is overseen by Liberal Democrat Business Secretary Vince Cable.

"By crashing the economy, Labour made everyone poorer and they haven't learnt their lesson”

 

Sajid Javid Conservative minister

Government sources have suggested that the rate would probably rise to £8 by the end of the next Parliament if it continued on current trends. The TUC has called for the minimum wage to increase to £10 an hour.

Mr Miliband announced the policy in interviews with the Sunday Mirror and Observer newspapers as Labour's annual conference got under way in Manchester.

 

The party says the £1.50 per hour increase would be worth £60 a week, or £3,000 a year, for the lowest paid.

"Too often people think that politics doesn't care about them," the Labour leader told the Sunday Mirror.

"They are the wealth creators just as much as the top entrepreneurs and the top business people. And we've got to reward them."

 

Tory cabinet minister Sajid Javid: "Ed Miliband would make people worse off."

He said the party would show "how we can become a country that rewards hard work once again".

In the Observer interview he added: "It is not good enough for us that one in five people in our country go out to work, make their contribution and are in low pay."

 

But Conservative Culture Secretary Sajid Javid said people would not take "lectures" from Labour on helping people on low pay.

"By crashing the economy, Labour made everyone poorer and they haven't learnt their lesson," he said.

"Ed Miliband would make people worse off with the same failed policies that got us into a mess in the first place - more wasteful spending, more borrowing and higher taxes."

'Dangerous'

The Liberal Democrats said the best way to help the low paid was to cut their taxes.

"Labour has refused to back tax cuts for working people," a spokesperson added.

Meanwhile, Mark Littlewood from free market think tank the Institute of Economic Affairs said the move would be "dangerous" for the economy.

 

The national minimum wage is the lowest hourly rate at which workers must legally be paid, although there are lower levels for workers aged 18-20, those under 18 and those working on an apprentice scheme.

It was introduced by Labour in 1997 and the level is reassessed annually by the Low Pay Commission, which then makes a recommendation to ministers.

 

October's above-inflation increase of 19p (3%) - announced in March - will be the first time in six years that the rise is higher than inflation.

The rate for 18 to 20-year-olds will go up by 10p to £5.13 an hour, a 2% increase.

The rate for those aged 16 and 17 will rise by 7p to £3.79, also a 2% rise.

Apprentices will earn an extra 5p an hour, taking their wages to at least £2.73.

 

In August the Consumer Price Index rate of inflation was 1.5%.

 

BBC

 

So we could see people taking home less because they will move into the income tax bracket or less because employers will reduce hours or even less still as they will be made redundant because some employers won't be able to afford the rise.

[Surfer01]

If the minimum wage is increased, surely that means the price of consumer goods would also rise and we would still be on the same merry go round??

[ericsbrother]

did you notice that when the minimumm wage was introduced the price of food in all of the fast food chains almost doubled? Another problem with this structure is that many meployers now only pay the minimum wage rather than negotiate a salary either individually or for staff groups so the median income has fallen over the years whilst teh average pay has gobe up due to the skewing of the data by a few people on £7 million a year for doing f*** all.

[steampowered]

Personally I think this is a good move. Corporate profit margins are currently quite high with the FTSE100 now sitting higher than its peak in 2008; yet people's wages have been static. I think there is room in the economy to do this.

[Surfer01]

Personally I think this is a good move. Corporate profit margins are currently quite high with the FTSE100 now sitting higher than its peak in 2008; yet people's wages have been static. I think there is room in the economy to do this.

 

Perhaps a better idea would be for those with a higher standard of education to get a slightly better wage. At least that is something to aspire to. Unfortunately we cannot limit what profits a company makes so the profit margin will always be the same and to get this amount of profit, the manufacturer increases the cost of the goods, The retailer increases the price to the consumer and ultimately the consumer loses out. Due to inflation busting increases in Zimbabwe, a few years ago a toilet roll cost over Zimbabwe $1000 and I am sure we do not want to go down that road. They just did it a lot quicker than most Western countries.

[Guest]

..... yet people's wages have been static. I think there is room in the economy to do this.

 

ditto

in some cases, the same salary/wage is being offered for jobs now, that were given some 10/15 yrs ago for the same job!

[Conniff]

Due to inflation busting increases in Zimbabwe, a few years ago a toilet roll cost over Zimbabwe $1000 and I am sure we do not want to go down that road.

 

 

I bet the newspaper industry would love it

[Surfer01]

I bet the newspaper industry would love it

 

If you could afford to purchase the newspaper in the first place.

[GrahamMcLean]

I dont think an all out increase of over £1.50 an hour is the answer. As someone else said, all that will happen is consumer goods & services will increase. Also the biggest losers in this will be the smaller independent businesses. Generally they have been unable to increase their profits due to their customers not having the money. If anything due to increases in energy bills they are worse off.

 

Perhaps a better idea would be for those with a higher standard of education to get a slightly better wage. At least that is something to aspire to.

 

Sadly my experience is that a huge amount of these supposed educated people leaving university or college today have neither the skills nor work ethic to justify giving them extra. Employers find that those that leave school at 16 and learn their trade or those coming into the workplace after early retirement elsewhere work harder & pick up new things far quicker.

 

If labour wants to do anything to improve job prospects and the standard of living for todays Britains. They need to get out of the EU. Close the borders & bring back apprenticeships.

[goodatresearch]

I am sick to death with people putting down graduates/the educated for not having work skills. At the same time we are told immigrants are better qualified. Which one is it? Getting a degree is damned hard, take it from someone who obtained one later in life after many years of working.. As for people having more skills because they've been working since 16, this itsnt always true. I've worked with many people without qualifications/education and some of them have good skills but many don't. We are slowly changing into a society that sneers at academic achievement but at the same time complains immigrants have better skills and are higher qualified. Whats wrong with this picture!

 

 

 

 

I dont think an all out increase of over £1.50 an hour is the answer. As someone else said, all that will happen is consumer goods & services will increase. Also the biggest losers in this will be the smaller independent businesses. Generally they have been unable to increase their profits due to their customers not having the money. If anything due to increases in energy bills they are worse off.

 

 

 

Sadly my experience is that a huge amount of these supposed educated people leaving university or college today have neither the skills nor work ethic to justify giving them extra. Employers find that those that leave school at 16 and learn their trade or those coming into the workplace after early retirement elsewhere work harder & pick up new things far quicker.

 

If labour wants to do anything to improve job prospects and the standard of living for todays Britains. They need to get out of the EU. Close the borders & bring back apprenticeships.

[SabreSheep]

I dont think an all out increase of over £1.50 an hour is the answer. As someone else said, all that will happen is consumer goods & services will increase. Also the biggest losers in this will be the smaller independent businesses. Generally they have been unable to increase their profits due to their customers not having the money. If anything due to increases in energy bills they are worse off.

 

 

I think you defeat your own argument there.

 

Minimum wage increase means an increase in consumer spending = more customers for business. While profit per unit might decrease a little bit, the extra sales generated by more consumer spending mean that overall profit should remain static or actually increase.

[citizenB]

This coming from a party who intends to vote for a 9% increase in their own pay !

[notmeguvhonest]

What is needed is a regionalised minimum wage, if you are earning £8 an hour in the north east for example, you are quite well off. If you live in London like I do, £8 an hour is not enough.Also the main beneficiary of increased wages is the treasury. If the minimum wage increased by £1.50 an hour, the government would get more tax in. Also for every £1.50 extra that people earn (after tax) their housing benefit will be reduced by £1. The increase in pay after taking into account council tax and reduced housing benefit would be negligible.

[SabreSheep]

A Valid point.

 

But then why should the government be subsidising employers that pay the bare minimum?

As for the tax take increase from pay, that is running on the assumption that everyone is full time, which as we have seen are not. £10,000 per year you can earn without being l iable for the taxs your talking about. For most of the workforce who are part time or zero hour contracts there will not be an increase in tax deductions from wages.

 

HOWEVER, with more people spending, the money collected form VAT will increase.

[notmeguvhonest]

If you are earning £10000 a year you are not paying income tax, but you are paying national insurance of about £10 a week.

[SabreSheep]

And most of thos eon mimimum wage are part time and therefore raising their minimum wage will not add that much to their tax burden.

[goodatresearch]

I understand the burden on small businesses, but what about all those employers who can afford to give workers a rise but don't do? At least when the minimum wage rises these employers have no choice but to follow the law.

[Lawrence McGinty]

If you are earning £10000 a year you are not paying income tax, but you are paying national insurance of about £10 a week.

 

Which is essentially income tax.

 

The two seperate deductions on a PAYE slip, Income Tax & NI, are both put into the same pot to spend.

[Lawrence McGinty]

I dont think an all out increase of over £1.50 an hour is the answer. As someone else said, all that will happen is consumer goods & services will increase. Also the biggest losers in this will be the smaller independent businesses. Generally they have been unable to increase their profits due to their customers not having the money.

 

There were scare stories about how the economy would crash when the min wage was first mooted and it didn't happen, your point on this sounds very familiar.

 

Also, no business should be allowed to profit whatsoever without first paying all their staff at least a reasonable wage, let alone increase their profits!

 

Finally, customers don't have the money as they are not paid a good wage to spend in the first place!!

Edited October 1, 2014 by Lawrence McGinty

[Lawrence McGinty]

ditto

in some cases, the same salary/wage is being offered for jobs now, that were given some 10/15 yrs ago for the same job!

 

Absolutely agree.

 

At the same time essentials such as domestic gas, electricity, water, vehicle fuel and council tax and even food has risen way out of kilter in comparison.

[Lawrence McGinty]

did you notice that when the minimumm wage was introduced the price of food in all of the fast food chains almost doubled?

 

No, I didn't notice this.

 

I was of the understanding that even businesses welcomed the min wage once it was introduced and the prophets of disaster didn't materialise.

 

I don't think it is a good argument to not increase the min wage in case a burger gets more expensive.

[Lawrence McGinty]

If the minimum wage is increased, surely that means the price of consumer goods would also rise and we would still be on the same merry go round??

 

How about businesses simply cut their greedy profit instead?

 

Eg, if a huge business makes 2 billion profit per year then why would it be wrong that they just make 1.8 billion profit after paying their staff more, as they should have done in the first place?

 

Greedy businesses would simply price themselves out of the market if they substantially increased their goods.

[ScarletPimpernel]

I am sick to death with people putting down graduates/the educated for not having work skills. At the same time we are told immigrants are better qualified. Which one is it? Getting a degree is damned hard, take it from someone who obtained one later in life after many years of working.. As for people having more skills because they've been working since 16, this itsnt always true. I've worked with many people without qualifications/education and some of them have good skills but many don't. We are slowly changing into a society that sneers at academic achievement but at the same time complains immigrants have better skills and are higher qualified. Whats wrong with this picture!

 

 

 

Getting a degree may well be hard, but I am struggling to see how that equates to useable work skills.

 

The issue is that some graduates have demonstrated academic achievement, but do not have basic skills that are useful in the workplace.

 

I don't sneer at academic achievement, but I am frustrated by graduates who seem to think a degree is all they need. Some lack such basic skills as the ability to spell and punctuate, but I suspect that many more fall foul of employers because of poor social skills and self-awareness.