NMW to increase again next year to £12.21 ph.

This! 👍

@Ridiculousradish and me also! SEN TA and I'm mentally shattered by the end of the week.

businesses should be able to make profits without expecting cheap labour @ZoeZee

Yes, try that zero hour contract where you are given unreasonable demands with the threat of losing your hours if you don't comply.

In my old job I was being asked to do things that were illegal and if I refused I'd be given less hours or if they needed me the hours that gave me the shittest work/ life balance. It was like coercive control.

I got a new job recently and I'm so glad have a proper contract.

"The UK’s second richest family has made their first move into the care home sector with the acquisition of Northampton-based provider Avery Healthcare.
Reuben Brothers, founded by Simon and David Reuben (pictured, left to right) and estimated to worth £21.5 billion in the 2021 Sunday Times Rich List, will enter into a 50/50 joint venture with US real estate investment trust and prominent UK care home investor Welltower Inc."

Not everyone on minimum wage gets universal credit. If you are in a couple and your partner earns more.

But I was more thinking of the people saying that the better paid jobs all have better terms and are easier work. I dont think that's true. Some jobs pay a tiny bit more than minimum and have the same terms and conditions.

I know what you mean op. For instance, I do not hold a degree in the position I am in. The qualified professionals do. They earn only maybe 2-300 per month more than me but have way more responsibilities. For the extra stresses, It is really not worth it.

I have a family member who runs his own free house pub. It's in a listed building with a very small kitchen, he can only have a small eating area. The pub is in a deprived area, only 2 other pubs in the town. With Covid loans still being paid off he cannot afford to pay all his staff 12 an hour. He recruits as many 18 year olds as he can keeping the wage bill down. There is no way that his business would be profitable if all his staff were paid 12 pound an hour. The locals want his pub to stay open as 3 others have closed in the past 5 years, he's restricted to what he can do by the building being listed. Does his business deserve to fail because he can't pay 12 pound an hour?

https://econofact.org/factbrief/did-us-unemployment-fall-to-the-lowest-rate-in-50-years-under-biden?origin=serp_auto

Wages, insurance and fuel costs are staggeringly high in care homes. The vast majority don't make much or any profit these days. It's a huge myth that people are getting rich from owning care homes.

Oh if only life was so simple.

Apart from the fact the cost is passed on to the end user - look at the people posting on this thread about nurseries. Many will go under and that will affect people's ability to work.

Out of interest, how many in the current government have worked outside the public sector?

Exactly. Also the day one rights like unfair dismissal mean that businesses, especially small businesses, are less likely to take on "risky" employees. We employ people out of rehab, homeless, ex-offenders etc. Most of them work out and are great employees but when they don't they can also cause a lot of problems when they're fired (false claims, threatening to sue in an effort to be "paid off" etc). The increasing risk of tribunals claims makes it much riskier to employ people with non-traditional backgrounds, so lots of employers will no longer take a chance on these people.

Exactly, why should small businesses and charities go under because salaries have had to go up and up to chase a silly housing market.

You think this is worse than Liz Truss???

No ones disputing a fair wage for a day's work, the general mood of the thread is "this is going to hurt" because we can all see how this is going to raise the cost of living again.

Are you sure about US unemployment rates, can you link to this?

Has the US increased Employer's outgoings in other areas at the same time?

Staff deserve to be properly paid for their work

But to raise this AND employer's NI contributions plus goodness knows what else, at the same time, is bonkers.

Because companies going out of business helps absolutely no-one, including government

Why on earth is this daft? Infact, it’s fucjing daft to even say it.

If businesses have to pay out more on staff, prices go up for the consumer or they get made redundant. Unemployment & prices are pushed up.

Absolutely nothing daft about that.

35k and 40k is the group that will be hit hardest though. No UC but will stop their kids classes, stop going out for dinner, not buy a new car, lose the cleaner etc.

I was literally just thinking, at this new rate, particularly where I live in one of the cheapest places in the country, I would be better off getting a shit but stress free job.

Wages where people can't afford to live and need benefits when they work mean the business model is broken , or else someone is profiting, using tax payer money to help them along

Weird how this never happens anywhere when the minimum wage has been increased. In fact it's one of the reasons for the boost in the US economy, which is seeing its lowest rates of unemployment for 50 years.