National Minimum Wage

[Undercoverbanana]

AIBU to think that if this is supposed to be be a wage that can support an adult human to a reasonable standard in 2018 Britain, the current rates are nowhere near sufficient.

How the hell can you buy a flat or rent a property on NMW? Then your hours go up and down and it’s impossible to budget anyway.

These already wealthy and posh politicians have no bloody idea do they?

Or perhaps you are on NMW and you do manage. How? Why are people not bloody furious at this enormous injustice in society. Are the politicians just hoping that millions of people just die on the streets?

They don’t make things easy for working people.

Kevin Bridges on working for self esteem and self respect

www.bing.com/videos/search?q=kevin+bridges+on+self+respect&view=detail&mid=E3A01F0ACDCBB187ABB7E3A01F0ACDCBB187ABB7&FORM=VIRE

I recently applied for a role within a care home where I would have to clean faeces off the walls and unblock toilets and sinks (this wasn’t advertised in the job description) all for a lousy £7.38 an hour, I happily declined when I was offered the job.

@Polarbearflavour this thread is a good example of what you posted. A care worker having to walk home alone at 11.15 pm after going above and beyond

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/3392660-Wife-at-work-today

These companies will happily drop their staff as society and jobs become more automated too. I cannot impress on people how little your employer cares about you.

I earn a lot more than NMW but how much do I care about my job? Very little. I turn up on time and do the tasks to the required standard then go home. It really is JUST A JOB!

@Polarbearflavour i think that's really sad. You spend so much of your day at work. I absolutely LOVE my job, i will always go above and beyond for other people in my team as they do the same for me.

@lazypuppy - I don’t think it’s sad, my job pays my mortgage and allows me to have a nice life. Most people solely go to work for the money. I don’t hate my job, it’s fine. I’m also aware that if my company wanted to they would get rid of me (or anybody) without a second thought.

I’m studying to retrain in another area that hopefully I will half like. This job is a means to an end.

www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/jobs/11871751/Its-official-most-people-are-miserable-at-work.html

I hope young people are taking their education more seriously now. I always thought it silly that you could doss about for 12/14 years of school then expect to have get job that pays for a house, car and some luxuries.

Minimum wage is a starting point, you should be getting experience, more educated and moving into higher wage jobs before expecting a house and car.

I hope young people are taking their education more seriously now. I always thought it silly that you could doss about for 12/14 years of school then expect to have get job that pays for a house, car and some luxuries. All that is happening is that now you need a degree for jobs which required a couple of O-levels 30 years ago. There will always be jobs at the bottom of the pile, and we will always need people to do them. And there aren't enough feckless layabouts to fill all the posts.

@Walkingdeadfangirl - many people working NMW jobs do have level 3 qualifications, degrees etc. There simply aren’t enough graduate jobs.

Some people do not have the intellectual capacity to work in skilled jobs - that doesn’t mean they should be left being the working poor their entire lives! Not everybody is capable of retraining as a nurse/plumber/project manager etc.

“The Low Pay Commission estimates that there were 1.9 million jobs paid at or below the NMW in April 2017, around 6.7% of all employee jobs.” Those 1.9 million people can’t just magically retrain to work in jobs that pay the average salary of £27k. Two-thirds of the population still earn under the national average.

If everyone decided to retrain, who would work in these NMW jobs? Many/most are vital to society and so we need to still encourage people into these roles every bit as much as higher paid roles.

I am sure most staff who work in childcare are close to NMW, but you want someone to look after your baby who actually wants to be there, right? Not staff constantly coming and going with none of them actually giving a shit!

Like a pp, I love my job and genuinely do give it my all. I regularly attend conferences in my own time and at my own expense to develop my knowledge and work many extra hours a week unpaid (NHS job, it is expected that you do this anyway!). Even if I was on the NMW I would feel this way as I am not motivated by money, but by job satisfaction. However you do have to live, and everyone should be entitled to be able to afford to have a roof over their head, heat, eat etc. Without having to rely on benefits.

I will agree with a pp however that when I was in a poorly paid job away years ago, I worked a 2nd job too and we walked/cycled everywhere, had no internet, only basic TV, no holidays, no nights out etc. We were saving for a house deposit which has paid off as we have moved up both the career and the property ladders.

However times are different now and I don't think it is unreasonable to think of a car, internet, phone, tv etc as essential items? I would certainly hope that my own children will be able to have all of those things when they are adults.

How can you have pride in your job when you are paid peanuts.
The funny thing is its the NMW employers that expect the most,staying behind and not getting paid, expect you to give everything to your job with little incentive.
If an employer pays me a decent wage I will take more pride in my work as I would feel more respected and valued plus I wouldn't be resentful that I've worked hard all week just to cover my bills.

I hope young people are taking their education more seriously now. I always thought it silly that you could doss about for 12/14 years of school then expect to have get job that pays for a house, car and some luxuries
They are, as long as they are healthy, have happy, engaged parents who are interested in their education. As long as they don’t have any mental health issues, suffer a loss, upset, any bullying during their education.

They seem to have to get it right this time first time with very little assistance if they don’t accomplish well in those years.

Nmw isn't meant to support a "reasonable" standard of living. It's meant to support a minimum standard.

If everyone decided to retrain, who would work in these NMW jobs? Many/most are vital to society and so we need to still encourage people into these roles every bit as much as higher paid roles.
We don't need to encourage people into them at all. The cause of the low pay is an oversupply of people to do them. If they become scarce then wages will go up.

In any case I think the vast majority of mine wage jobs won't exist in a couple of decades time. People need to upskill to keep ahead of the job stealing robots. It's a real worry what will happen to people who aren't capable of that (never mind people who are capable but lack the opportunity).

Care assistants are paid NMW/low pay and nobody is lining up to do those jobs! The agencies are constantly recruiting. It will be interesting to see how Brexit affects jobs like these. I imagine there will be even fewer care workers!

According to the BBC, there are 110,000 vacancies in care. This will only increase with the ageing population.

Care assistants are paid NMW/low pay and nobody is lining up to do those jobs! The agencies are constantly recruiting.
And the shortage would soon disappear if they upped the wages, but we don't value them enough for that!