To think that lots of people don't understand just how many jobs pay minimum wage.

[TravellingSpoon]

And how many jobs they would consider worthy of higher wages do not get them.

I am a support worker, and we were talking about this in our staff room this morning. Many of us have had similar experiences, people who cannot believe how little we get paid, or that we would do it for such a small amount of money. And we get 19p above the current minimum wage. Similarly with a couple of my colleagues who have backgrounds in nursery.

Vote in Corbyn.

Love him or hate him, he's old school socialist.

What distressed me as late 50s HCP is how quickly and easily my young colleagues endlessly give away hard earned rights.

But yes, minimum wage isn't a lot of money. You have to ask yourself what sort of society we live in where the government has to step in to make ends meet in families with 1.5 wage earners.

I agree. So many prople are on minimum wage, or just small amounts above it. And many of them are stessful or difficult jobs. I also see this attitude on mn that people should be 'bettering themselves' or going up a 'career ladder' with no recognition that a lot of these jobs are quite skilled, essential to society and there isnt really anywhere to go. They sort of mistake minimum wage to be entry level jobs only. 1 in 5 workers is a lot.

Grasspigeons exactly! SOMEBODY has to do these jobs. Not everybody is going to go up the "career ladder." And even management roles are still rubbish pay in sectors like retail, hospitality and care.

missbattenburg, I entirely agree.

And in the NHS, they're trying-and in some cases succeeding- in making HCPs pay for training that the hospital requires them to have.

I know it is off topic, but we're now expected to do some mandatory training in our own time!

I agree many people have no idea and no, they don't get it that nmw jobs can be bloody hard work all day.
Last place I worked we got no breaks and no holiday pay working our arses off and bosses were complaining when nmw went up a few pence.
Because people are desperate to work employers take the piss as much as they can.

I know someone who had to give up work after 15yrs with a company. She said how sorry she was to leave and boss said "oh don't worry I can get 2 part time teens to train up for not much more than I pay you." !!
And zero he contracts should be illegal. How are you supposed to.live on them? Unless you are working 16 hrs or more you get no tax credits and other benefits people need to top up crappy wages anyway. Are people supposed to live on fresh air?

Min /living wage is and will become the going rate for most jobs in the future, people will get drawn into it the more the living wage rises

We are all gaining experience all the time.

If only this were true. It's only 'experience' in the job sense if you are learning to do new and useful things. Most people don't, unfortunately.

I wa at work last night, and watched the new episode of Rich House, Poor House. The bloke from the poor house earned more than me per hour... Their income for the week was more than ours too min. wage is currently £8.21 for over 25 yr olds.

*Vote in Corbyn.

Love him or hate him, he's old school socialist.*

Yeah his free money for everyone is very realistic.

What I actually find more surprising is that the minimum wage workers supervisor might only be on £1 or 50p more per hour. I would ask, what is the point being a supervisor at these levels of pay?

50p more per hour f-t is about a grand per year.

However there is a definite thing that as the MW increases the gap between them and those above them decrease. There is an argument that without a MW employers would set their own wage levels and people would move employers for better wages.

• paying for work-requested training
• being expected to complete mandatory training in your own time

These are further ways that wages are, in real terms, falling. Companies squeezing and squeezing because they think employees are easy targets to help them hit financial targets.

I also agree with how easily people are willing to hand back hard won rights. They seem to have a belief that human dignity is a given and cannot be taken away in the UK. It isn't. There is always someone, somewhere who is looking for a chance to exploit you for their own gain.

I work with a care in the care in the community company. The staff are only above minimum wage and they are the hardest working and most caring people you will meet, but we can't pay them more. The amount the NHS pay us leaves the margins so so tight, plus pension payments rising. We have given pay rises on the expectation of an uplift in our charge price and it just doesn't come, leaving the whole company in the balance. It's terrible for everyone and the wages do not reflect the work the staff do.

We try and offer career progression, care attendant, senior care attendant and then any jobs in the office as a manager are offered. It's so hard to keep staff and you can clearly see why. We nearly have to rely on the staff wanting to stay because they care, which is unfair.

YANBU

Both DH and I are well paid professionals and we often talk about the inequality of it. I studied for 6 years for my job, but he has just had some good luck and worked hard. But no harder than many do (note re luck). It’s completely disproportionate.

I've seen several job ads which manage to convey the fact they're paying minimum wage as if it was something beneficial or generous FFS. I don't know how they have the nerve when to do otherwise would be illegal. Even worse are the employers who make a big song and dance out of paying more than minimum wage, when that turns out to be mere pence per hour extra, as described by some previous posters.

They should actually be ashamed to be paying the very least they can get away with, which is what minimum wage is in reality. I also despair at the significant number of NMW jobs which aren't training inexperienced new employees completely from scratch but instead demand the sort of experience and skills which could only have been acquired in a previous work environment. The only time that'd be remotely acceptable would, in my opinion, be if the overall package was generous and/or beneficial .... like paid study leading to valuable qualifications for example, but that doesn't seem to be the case very often. Instead, you have this ridiculous and insulting situation where experienced, but arguably desperate, employees ... perhaps those who've been made redundant .... have no choice but to take on work which doesn't pay fairly. It's absolutely terrible how so many workers are treated with such contempt in the UK.

The question though is whether it’s good to push costs up and have the govt supporting higher unemployment - it’s true that both parties now are committed to non wage hikes that aren’t tested recommendations from the low pay commission.

I agree wages need to rise, but we moved away from govt command of economies for a reason. There’s a global picture at stake too, wages in developed worlds have stagnated but lots of people in China and India have been moved out of poverty, so saying current economics isn’t working is a very particular view.

min

I think there are so many jobs that are paying Minimum wage or just a little bit over ,and they still seem to get away with it!.Lots of jobs in Social Care ,Nurseries,Catering staff the list is endless!.The government seem to say they will increase minimum wages ,but the cost of living in the UK overall is quite high TBH. Friends came over from Eastern Canada recently and were shocked at house prices (On the South Coast so quite high ) and things in general .

I am on NMW and my employers keep asking me to train up to supervisor level, but I refuse. There is a LOT of extra stress and responsibility at that level, but about 60p an hour more money.

I said I'd do it for a tenner an hour more, but apparently that's unreasonable... I'm nearing retirement age, so the experience would be bugger all use to me.

I work as a dispenser in a pharmacy. Minimum wage, as it’s considered shop work/retail. Whilst I obviously don’t expect to get paid anywhere near what a pharmacist does it would be nice to earn a bit more than minimum wage.

My job involves making sure the right strength/ formulation of medication is dispensed, sourcing medications, dealing with vulnerable patients and, just yesterday reassuring an elderly lady about her husband’s end of life medication.

It’s one of the reasons minimum wages are not necessarily the good thing they are made out to be.

They flatten the pay structures

I think its also something those who talk about benefits in a negative way dont understand. Many people who claim benefits are in work, and do so because the cost of living is high, and wages are so low.

I earn just above minimum as I have stated, and will we getting a 10p payrise in December. But my council tax went up by £30 a month this year, and I have just had a letter to say that DS's after school sessions (which are a godsend because at 12 there is no other childcare available for him), will be going up by £1 a night.

VapeVamp Boris seems to have located the Magic Money Tree so I assume Corbyn could locate it, too 😉

And those minimum wage jobs expect you to jump though hoops just to get them! And then be really motivated and excited to work in a shop or whatever for £8.21 an hour. Even less if you’re under 25. I wonder how many people apply for each minimum wage job?

I have what MN would consider to be the shittest job, supermarket assistant. I earn over minimum wage and have a fantastic contract, incredible benefits and good prospects if I want to 'move up'.
Childcare paid me pittance, I looked into social care, also too low.
Nmw is absolutely no indication of how hard someone works or if your job is classed as 'good' by society.

And I'm not eligible for any benefits. Luckily I can usually get more hours than my contracted 16 and therefore afford to live, but when I dropped to sick pay last June for a fortnight, there was not enough in that month's pay packet to cover the bills.

No dependants = no eligibility for benefits, no matter how little you earn. It's just 'go and get a better job, then'.

I have a first class degree. I do the job I do because it's flexible.