So if the Minimum Wage increases...

[missbunnyrabbit]

My own wage in a public sector job seems lower than ever. The article I read suggests the public sector pay freezes will end, but I doubt we'll get such a large pay rise!

Aibu to feel like packing my teacher job in to go and work a minimum wage job instead?

In most low paid jobs their are often layers of workers where a supervisor will be paid 50p an hour more, surely these people will all need a rise as well so the difference stays the same. How Labour's £15 an hour would have worked, I do not know

MN at its finest!

What do we want?

Wage parity!

When do we want it?

Now!

No! Not MY wage!

@AlphabetAerobics

MN at its finest!

What do we want?

Wage parity!

When do we want it?

Now!

No! Not MY wage!

What do we actually want and need? A reasonable cost of living! What don't we want? A vote winning headline that will do nothing more than drive up prices and affect those out of work even more yay!

What do we actually want and need? A reasonable cost of living! What don't we want? A vote winning headline that will do nothing more than drive up prices and affect those out of work even more yay!

What do you think if the £15 idea from Labour?

There’s nothing wrong with wages. Wages are fine. It’s the cost of living that’s too high! Staples like rent, gas/electricity, childcare.

They can increase the wage all they like only for it to be soaked up by all this + NI increase

I just find threads like these so mind boggling.

Of course the public sector pay freeze needs addressing.

But in a professional job like teaching you have - scope for promotions and career progression; a very good pension; permanent contracts rather than zero hours; and in the case.of teaching you get a huge amount of holiday too (and I don't know what the Mumsnet teachers are doing wrong because my friends and family who.are teachers definitely all take the vast majority of every holiday off )

I remember when the very first ever in British history minimum wage came in in about 1999 by Labour. My school friend had a tiny dry cleaning and repairs business. She had about 20 part timers all on different amounts based on seniority, skills etc and suddenly every single one of them was bumped up to the highest pay of all of them - chaos. We could remove minimum wages, restrict labour supply and get wages up that way instead but neither party is committed to that so the minimum wage is here to stay. Hopefully it will mean we stop having to pay any benefits at all to those in full time work other than child benefit as the current system means we tax payers pay for tax credits for full time working families whilst their supermarket employers are in effect subsidised to pay them a low wage.

@MarshaBradyo

What do we actually want and need? A reasonable cost of living! What don't we want? A vote winning headline that will do nothing more than drive up prices and affect those out of work even more yay!

What do you think if the £15 idea from Labour?

Fucking madness. Unless they're planning to proportionally increase disability benefits etc, public sector jobs, and support smaller businesses who will have to let staff go. Can you imagine how much food and everything else will increase if the supply chain has that big of a change? It just means everything will be more expensive, what's the point?

@YouJustFoldItIn I’ve never seen a nursery job advertised over nmw.

After many years service and an early years degree I worked my way to baby room manager and got nmw plus 5p an hour. No sick pay, bare minimum holiday which had bank holidays deducted (nursery still charged parents!) and 2 weeks for Christmas closure. Left me 2 weeks to choose for my family over the whole year. It’s just not sustainable for most of us to work in them.

YANBU

People work and stress themselves in order to earn more to be able to afford to live securely and what do they get? Minimum wage once again nipping at their heels as the government pushes through increases without considering the knock-on effects.

If the government really wanted to do something for the poor they'd have let the UC uplift stay which benefited poorer households but came out of the tax of the rich instead of a minimum wage rise which shops and services will fund by increasing their prices resulting in cost of living impacts which will just push more people into poverty as the impact of those effects are marginal and will mostly be felt by those who were already struggling.

Feta I agree. It’s madness

At least this version might get people to think about the reality of it rather than pie in the sky magic finances

I work two jobs in a school at the lower end of the pecking order. There's no doubt that teachers work extremely hard, and I will always defend them when a ridiculous teacher bashing thread appears.
In this case Op I don't think you cast yourself in a good light. You sound almost resentful that the lowest paid are going to get a little extra help. Also, just because your minimum wage job was easy and stress free, it doesn't mean other minimum wage jobs are.
From what I've read, the public sector pay freeze is ending next year, so hopefully you'll get your pay rise anyway, and the gap between your wage and the security guard at Tesco won't be so small.

I never have because I like to pretend otherwise! No one wants to think they are working for less than nmw.

If you worked it out, you’d find you wouldn’t be.

Sorry, but I think those furloughed SHOULD be the ones to pay most of it back. Not massive amounts, not all of it. But it infuriates me to think of people (cough ex-boyfriend cough) sitting at home, binge watching TV, whilst still getting 80%, while key workers like me are slogging our guts out and putting ourselves at risk of covid.

This is probably the most stupid thing I’ve read. Do you know what the point of furlough actually was? If someone has been on furlough and is on a low wage, how on earth do you expect them to be able to pay it back?

I have no problem with asking companies who managed to still make a profit during last year to pay back any furlough or grant they got (and some already have) but asking individuals is a ridiculous suggestion.

Also I find it concerning any party who thinks plucking a high number (£15) out of the air is reasonable and economically sound.

As far as I can see the idea is to get less money paid out by the taxpayer for topping up wages that do not cover the cost of living especially housing,with benefits.
The government has thrown everything it can to keep house prices as high as possible.
This is where all the money has gone.

Yes let's just keep those lazy careworkers in their easy jobs on pay so low they need to claim top up benefits and use foodbanks. Then even better we can call them work shy and look down on them!

I'm in a position similar to you OP and I think you're being massively unreasonable.

@Popcornriver

Yes let's just keep those lazy careworkers in their easy jobs on pay so low they need to claim top up benefits and use foodbanks. Then even better we can call them work shy and look down on them!

I'm in a position similar to you OP and I think you're being massively unreasonable.

But many will actually be worse off. As the cost of everything increases, the government will deem them not eligible for top ups. If the government were really arsed they would make changes to make the cost of living more affordable.

She had about 20 part timers all on different amounts based on seniority, skills etc and suddenly every single one of them was bumped up to the highest pay of all of them - chaos.

Your friend was seriously underpaying staff if the most senior member was getting minimum wage. The taxpayer was subsidising the business and they were pocketing the profits. I’m glad the MW came in to correct that.

OP, it sounds to me like you’re just burnt out from teaching.

I agree with PP that maybe stepping “down” into a minimum wage job sounds like the best solution, especially if you have previous experience. You’d walk into a job, I’m sure.

One thing you might want to consider though, if you plan to have children, is that having school holidays “off” (and yes I know you still have to work but school is closed so you don’t have to be in the classroom) means no childcare costs.

That’s why my DM chose teaching - she had three children at home and no other way to cover school holidays.

But many will actually be worse off. As the cost of everything increases, the government will deem them not eligible for top ups.

I’d like to see the actual maths on that.

If the government were really arsed they would make changes to make the cost of living more affordable.

How would they do that? The government can’t control private business prices, and nor should they.

@nosyupnorth

YANBU

People work and stress themselves in order to earn more to be able to afford to live securely and what do they get? Minimum wage once again nipping at their heels as the government pushes through increases without considering the knock-on effects.

If the government really wanted to do something for the poor they'd have let the UC uplift stay which benefited poorer households but came out of the tax of the rich instead of a minimum wage rise which shops and services will fund by increasing their prices resulting in cost of living impacts which will just push more people into poverty as the impact of those effects are marginal and will mostly be felt by those who were already struggling.

My view is that we should be living in a society where anyone working full time shouldn't need propping up with benefits. Sadly this was the New Labour "third way" that has stuck one way or another even into UC. Sadly employers can't be trusted to raise wages during growth periods, particularly for the lowest paid workers. Even when shit employers are struggling to fill vacancies.

We have a low wage economy in the UK, particularly for professionals. I used to work for a German company and my colleagues in equivalent roles over there earned far more than me and other UK colleagues. Even after the supposedly higher taxes (let's not talk about the huge number of tax breaks there are in Germany) they were taking home considerably more. Cost of living isn't that different in Germany to here, how do they make it work?

I think most people are well overdue a decent pay rise after a decade of below inflation ones. Although the minimum wage rise is welcome I doubt the government are going to follow suit with public sector pay at large.

It's a measly increase but its whipped up some into a frenzy.

@Ilovegreentomatoes

It's a measly increase but its whipped up some into a frenzy.

I can only dream of 6.6% to be fair.

@BoredZelda

But many will actually be worse off. As the cost of everything increases, the government will deem them not eligible for top ups.

I’d like to see the actual maths on that.

If the government were really arsed they would make changes to make the cost of living more affordable.

How would they do that? The government can’t control private business prices, and nor should they.

The actual maths- like basic economics? Okay.

They don't have to control private business prices to stop the cost of living spiralling, there are plenty of ways, they set VAT on fuel, council taxes, subsidies they give to nurseries etc.

Fetarabbit

Oh I agree with everyone saying it's not a perfect solution. I can definitely see problems.

My post was in response to the OP who mainly disagrees because she wants her wage to remain well above others in 'lower' positions. Regardless if that 'lower' position means gruelling work, longer hours and the need to claim universal credit to buy food.