To think raising NMW is a good thing

Maybe it should be propped up by the state if they are mandating the increase.

But noone would actually go for that because then it comes out of taxpayers pockets collectively. But it's fine for a business.

Fine. But don't moan when big local employers like call centres close down in Britain in favour of cheaper countries.

Or that all your clothing comes from Bangladesh.

Or that your kid is laid off when they are starting a family but they are also about to become more expensive to employ than a younger person.

Or that all older relatives are being cared for by 18 year olds in their first jobs.

That's all fine and good except there's a lot of skilled public sector jobs, social work included, which won't be paying much more then minimum wage. As we've seen time and time again recently, appetite for increasing spending on the public sector is not exactly high. I don't disagree with the increase to minimum wage, I just think the argument that companies will pay skilled workers more ignores the public sector aspect and is overly simplistic.

Increasing NMW has already caused mass redundancies

many low paid people will earn diddly squat soon

It’s not forcing businesses to collapse. It’s forcing the owners and shareholders to give up some of their millions of profits.

This is so naive. There are thousands and thousands of businesses which barely make any profit, but they do keep people employed.

So fuck us low paid workers, right?

A lot of businesses are one man or a family, no rich shareholders. The number of businesses that pay millions in dividends to shareholders will be miniscule. And in those the shareholders will often be pension funds and such like that ordinary people rely on.

I expect to pay my workers a fair wage. That’s how it works. Share dividends are not guaranteed.

They're charging more anyway.

Increasing NMW means the lowest earners now have more disposable income. These people now will finally able to arrange desperately needed house improvements, car repairs, new clothes etc. The extra monies paid to them goes straight back into the economy, including back into those businesses

The higher earners are the ones putting their extra monies into their long term investments, sat in bank accounts, 30 year ISAS etc (as well as spending some of course, but you get my point) They accumulate more money than they spend

You give the poorest people more money, the ONLY place it can go is back into the economy

The reality is it doesn’t end up making a difference. A shop has to pay staff 50p an hour more so the price of shopping rises by 50p, a restaurant has to pay 50p more so the menu becomes 50p more expensive etc etc- the pay rise then isn’t actually worth anything at all. It’s a nice idea, but businesses don’t absorb these costs they just pass them on to the consumer and so you’re never any better off.

If a manufacturer employs someone to make a product/s, and pays them X wage and sells the product for Y price.
If X goes up, then so does Y, basic economics

It actually doesn’t have to; but often companies are greedy and want to protect margin and their shareholder profits

what are you on about? You don’t value the employment laws to protect you? the freeze in rail fares? What did the last government do for you?

I suspect in other industries they just outsource to cheaper parts of the world as well

Well, quite. That's why all our clothes, most of our goods and customer service is based elsewhere.

At some point British business isn't viable.

How many people go to e.g. a local craft market, see the cost of a handmade ceramic, local produce, high welfare meat or whatever and put it down because they can "get it cheaper" somewhere else.

Where are these people going to work? There's only so many jobs at Tesco.

My teens have, or rather had, cafe/waiting/fast food type PT jobs. They’ve all had their hours much reduced or stopped completely since the last budget as they’re too expensive to employ now. Unintended consequences but thats been the reality for us…

I cant see it helping anything. If staffing costs rise then the price of what the company provides rises. So you earn more but everything costs more too.

The other issue is if those in the lowest paid jobs get a rise then does everyone else? If not you end up with managers earning very close to those they are managing and therefore they don’t want to do it.

It’s a catch 22.

This is exactly the issue

Precisely this. People here seem to have no idea how much the salary of company directors is rising and the level of inequality is widening

£20 a week would add £2.40 into my pocket, weekly shopping bill is approx £100 so I could increase that to 102.40 however inflation is predicted to be 3.5% increasing my shopping bill to 103.50 so I need to find an extra 1.10 from somewhere, it won't be extra hours at work because none will be available.

It started many years ago but this government is just so bad, it makes everything that came before it look amazing.

I’d say starting at £26k is probably more reasonable than £23!

it absolutely depends what the business is and what the level of profitability is. Not one size fits all.

Business should be paying everyone a decent wage instead of giving share holders millions,making massive profits.

What do you consider a " living," wage