To think minimum wage is dire. What hourly rate would you work for?

It’s because there’s more money there to fund it all.

The money in football is huge, sponsorships with brands like Nike etc, TV deals with Sky/BT etc, merchandise sales, ticket sales, all of that money comes in, and so all of that money can go back out in wages.

Our essential workers so things like NHS are funded by us, the government, and the only way they can bring more in is by increasing taxes which naturally isn’t popular amongst the public. Even though most people will agree that those people deserve to be paid better, most won’t want to see themselves paying more tax to fund it, especially if they themselves are on a low income.

so like bigger fan base = more money for the club, then the club can spend eg millions to get x players etc ?

It’s because they generate money I think.

Probably not minimum wage though

maybe a daft question but i never understand how society can justify footballers wages then pay essential service workers low ££ etc

Raising the tax threshold is more effective when your dealing in low pay

No i’m sorry but all ‘low skilled jobs’ are jobs that need to be done. There’s no ‘desperately’ about it. Why should people be paid shit for doing a job anyone can do. The truth is even though anyone can technically do a low skill job, not everyone has the mental resilience to dia low skill job day in day out… no progression, no satisfaction, no reward other than the bare minimum. I don’t consider it to be low skill nor to want to walk out, not to scream at another nasty customer, to get down and scrub a floor when your back is killing you, to take constant crap from people for a wage that doesn’t even cover a holiday. That’s a skill. And you want to pay these people less money to encourage people into jobs that you have decided we ‘desperately’ need people to do. You don’t need to assure me of anything thanks very much. You do know that your experience isn’t stone cold fact right? It was easier for you. You’re not the authority on what’s easy. I have plenty of experience on both sides and never once has it occurred to me that I’m the only truth.

We deserve x5 plus per hour for the work you do and the mental strain it takes on dedicated staff members

I don't know how my sister does it
Some of the abuse she gets from patients makes me so angry

Well I’m a band 5 staff nurse and earn just over £15 an hour which works out at just under £12 an hour after tax. I work in intensive care and look after the sickest patients in my county, usually on multiple forms of life support. I think our £11.85 an hour shows you how well valued we are.

I'm on minimum wage. I have NVQs levels 2, 3 and 4. I am an SQP. I am an implanted. I have a degree and postgraduate qualifications, plus other qualifications relevant to the veterinary/animal care industry.

I deal with reception, phone calls, emails, clients, insurance, health clubs, paperwork and payments.

I deal with blood and urine samples and work the in-house machines. I deal with sending samples away.

I deal with animals - restraining and lifting heavy dogs, including XL bullies. I sometimes get nipped trying to muzzle dogs and often scratched by cats.

I occassionally assist in operations and ensure the instruments are sterile and fit for use and in their correct kits.

I handle medication - ordering stock for our pharmacy and for clients. I can prescribe some treatments and I get prescriptions ready for collection or postage. I have to do regular date checks on all medication.

I take animals home occasionally that have been brought in un-owned and need tlc. I contact rescue centres and the dog warden on a weekly basis.

I witness animal abuse and neglect and cruelty cases on a regular basis.

If you Google the job description it basically says "cleaning and laundry duties".

I could get an extra £2/3 per hour working in Lidl.

Agree.

And usually someone brings up that "Tesco make billions, they could easily pay an extra £2/hr to their minimum wage staff".

It's probably true, but could they increase every non-NMW employee's wage by 20% as well to recognise their extra responsibilities, etc?

And if they did do that, they could - and would - then choose only better qualified/experienced staff, draining other employers who can't afford to keep their skilled people. Why would you do a high-stress, skilled job when you could work in an unskilled job for more? What effect does that have on the country if skilled people think "sod it, I'll just work in Tesco for more money."

Other businesses would put up prices to afford to keep their staff, which fuels inflation (and of course Tesco would love hiking their prices on the back of that) and it only ever makes things worse for those in comparatively low paid jobs - inflation always hits the poorest hardest - and you're back to square one; just with a devalued currency due to the impact of inflation on the whole economy.

It's a massively complex issue which isn't easily resolved as there needs there to be both a free market to allow the economy to thrive but also regulation to prevent exploitation by the most powerful (richest) employers, too.

I forgot to include travel costs - about £60 per month in my case

Yes, it's £23,795pa on minimum wage for a 40 hour week. That is a take home of £20,652pa or £1721 per month

Personal allowance is only £12,570 and hasn't gone up in ages. It should have done. People on minimum wage should have virtually no tax removed:

Out of £ 1,721 per month, I would have to pay £910 rent and water, £150 for electricity in winter, £30 for broadband. That leaves me £631 for tv licence, insurance, food, toiletries, cleaning materials, prescriptions, birthday presents, entertainment and other sundries. It's extremely tight.

Building any type of housing will bring costs down for all types of housing.

For example:

• Build lots of 4-bed detached houses, and it'll bring the price down for that type of house
• Then more people in 3-bed semis will be able to afford to move into them, resulting in more 3-bed semis on the market, bringing the price of them down
• Resulting in more people in 2-bed flats being able to afford to buy them, resulting in more 2-bed flats on the market, bringing the price of them down
• Resulting in more people in rented accommodation being able to afford to buy the flats, resulting in more rented places vacant, bringing the price of them down

It may have more effect if you build certain sizes/tenures, but really building lots and lots of anything is an improvement

Low skill jobs will still be low skill no matter how long you work there. The issue with minimum wage at present, is that for each position the wage needs to meet the demand. Using my example from before, £12.50 for the dishwasher means the waitress wants £13.50, then the junior chef wants £14.50, restaurant manager £16, same with mid ranking chefs and so on. But to pay all that the price of your meal and drinks go up. What was a £20 a head meal has now become £30. So despite you getting more money, you are no better than before but have created a false sense of inflation.

As I said, we need to reassess what are considered low skill/low pay jobs. We desperately need carers, they provide a job that is physically and mentally difficult. I'd argue they deserve a better rate of pay and more in demand than someone typing up letters all day.

Ask anyone who has had a job in hospitality eg waiting tables, it is physically and mentally extremely hard work, although most people think it is just carrying food. I've worked both sides of the pass and can assure you being a chef is far easier. These should be better paid as they are roles difficult to fill.

It's not that the minimum wage is that low, it's more that more skilled jobs aren't increasing in the same projection. Minimum wage was for cleaning, factory, retail etc but there are so many positions that actually require more training that are barely above minimum wage nowadays. It's less incentive for some people to bother getting the additional qualifications/training just for a few pence more an hour.

I don't live in the UK now but honestly I could not sustain my current lifestyle if I did

But also when you say with I often do on here it's pointless building more housing unless it's only predominantly social homes with some private homes people shoot me down and then we see endless threads of I don't want to buy a home near social housing.

People whine about the cost of living, but then when solutions could actually help ease the cost of living, they don't like it...

THIS!

But it appears there is zero political will to do anything about this.

£53 an hour.

Ignoring bennies / bonuses that’s roughly what I get now and I could not go under that.

I do agree with you that when I look at some of these salaries I am in shock

My friends daughter is at uni

I needed some admin help so paid her 40 pound an hour for a few weeks work

It felt like the right thing to do but my god she was so ungrateful (she is 20)
Her friends currently earn 10-12 pounds an hour

Anyway lesson learnt
Never again
She can find some min wage work

Housing housing housing.
It's the single biggest reason why we have more children living in poverty now than 30 years ago. Why we have more working people living in poverty than ever before.
It's also one of the key reasons why so many councils are on the brink of insolvency (temp housing costs for people made homeless by landlords pushing up rents without constraint).

Building more houses won't help if all we get are more luxury properties bought primarily as investments and rented out at unaffordable, unregulated, uncapped market rents.

We can't have it both ways. Housing is either fulfilling a basic human right for adequate, safe and appropriate shelter or its part of someone's hedge fund. It can no longer be both.

Pushing up the min wage will do nothing to help this.

I’m on 32k a year but I get a lot of enhancements so can earn an extra 1k a month if I choose the right shifts so I’m pretty happy!

I'm looking for a new job. I have a degree and there's been some I've looked at that I'd love to apply for but, they have such responsibility (social care worker for teenagers was one) it's also minimum wage.
So I can either travel the city and work with vulnerable kids and have the extra workload outside of my hours for nmw or I can carry on waitressing and washing dishes at the local pub for the same money.

Sounds about the same as dentists?
Sorry for bundling you up together..
yet finding an “NHS dentist” and having them accept patients it’s literally like winning the lottery.