With the minimum wage rising on the 1st October to £5.35 for over 21's, £4.45 for 18-21 and £3.30 for under 18's, has it helped employment or damaged it.

 

Before it was introduced the doubters(mainly employers and the Tory party) said it would lead to massive lay offs, whereas the supporters (mainly the unions and the Labour party) said it would raise standards of living at the bottom.

 

Who has been proved right. Initially I must admit I thought it might have a detrimental affect on labour, but 5 or so years on I have changed my opinion. I think it has been a good thing,so far. But at what level can it be realistically be raised to without having a real impact on jobs.

 

With more and more foreign immigrants coming into the country, and willing to work for less than the minimum wage, is this more than likely going to affect the low paid workers job prospects, more than the actual minimum wage by itself.

Its a good thing

 

People do not deserve to be exploited and everyone has the right to earn a decent living wage, get rid of minimum wage we will be back to sweatshops paying £1.50 an hour

 

minimum wage should stay

The Minimum Wage is a good thing, but if anyone thinks that you can survive in London or the South East for five quid an hour they need their head examined.....

The Minimum Wage is a good thing, but if anyone thinks that you can survive in London or the South East for five quid an hour they need their head examined.....

 

Agree but it would be a lot less than that if it is abolished for sure, there are a lot of unscrupulous employers out there who will cut wages in order to maximise their profits

The Minimum Wage is a good thing, but if anyone thinks that you can survive in London or the South East for five quid an hour they need their head examined.....

 

 

Agreed, but its difficult to have a regional variation as it will cause arguements in other hot spots up and down the country, But in principle if there is already a London allowance in some jobs it could be introduced.

Agreed, but its difficult to have a regional variation as it will cause arguements in other hot spots up and down the country, But in principle if there is already a London allowance in some jobs it could be introduced.

 

There's already "London Weighting", so a similar idea could be applied to minimum wage down here. I do think it's justified...

urgh i'm paid £3.30 an hour, it sucks so much c**k it's stupid, i know it's better then nothing but it's hardley anything. i want more :(

I didn't realise it was so low. My aunty said there was a job going for me and from the age of 17 it was £5.50 an hour.

the minimum wage is a very good thing and should definitely stay.

 

And I agree with Scott about London Weighting - in fact, ALL workers in cities should receive more. I lived in Bristol for 10 years, and the cost of living there is on par with London.

Better minimum wage than the maximum wage. At least we can't be completely ripped off on our wages over here.

I am under 18 and work in Tesco and you would probably expect me to be on £3.30 but I am actualy on £4.79 and I havent even been there a year yet.

Talking of 'maximum wage'.. wouldn't it be nice for everyone in certain sectors to be guided by a 'maximum wage' rule.... that'd put a stop to these lazy, out of touch fat cats for one thing, anyway.

good thinking russ... :)

 

i mean, just how much money does a person really need

Talking of 'maximum wage'.. wouldn't it be nice for everyone in certain sectors to be guided by a 'maximum wage' rule.... that'd put a stop to these lazy, out of touch fat cats for one thing, anyway.

Yea, this is certainly worth considering.

 

I think in some way the wealth of the richest people should be connected to the poor.

Not payment per hour, because a lot of the richest people are not in an employment situation. They normally own businesses for example or are royalty etc.

But if those people's wealth was connected to the poorer people, it would be in everyones interests to raise standards of the poor.