To think raising NMW is a good thing

[Kilot]

The poorest in society will earn more. Companies will have to pay more, benefits will drop.

Such a blinkered view.

My local pub did not make a profit last year. The increase in NMW and NI this year then hurt them badly.

They've frozen recruitment and are working with a skeleton staff as much as possible.

They simply cannot just increase their prices - why? Because people just don't have the disposable income to spend. So then they have no customers.

No customers = no business. No business = no employees getting their minimum wage page or otherwise.

Yes, it's great, we should be paying people a living wage, I am all for that, but people do need to understand that there are consequences of these increases.

Businesses exist to make a profit, if they're not making one, then they're gone.

Then I can only assume you don’t need the money? I’ve been a nurse for 30 years and I loathe it (not the patients the pressure). I only stay for the money and my pension. I cannot wait for the day I can fuck off - 11 years and counting. I do not do it for altruistic reasons and the nhs prays on people who do. More fool them.

I’m sorry you don’t like your job but I can still be outraged about the amount of work required to become a nurse and then the massive amount of responsibilities is not properly recognised whilst unskilled workers are quickly catching up and how this will definitely not help with recruitment or retention.

Not sure why I am being jumped on here for actually enjoying my job 🙄

The person I know is 25 (friend of a DC) He's on £30k. Did retail all throughout uni and has now been working there FT since.

This is my concern. I’m a teacher of 25 years - we are finding it so hard to recruit. Our latest PGCE teacher is leaving as she sees the stress we deal with and the starting salary just isn’t worth it - it’ll be even worse when the NMW and post graduate jobs decreases.

So 25 isn't very young for management in shops and fast food joints.

If I was a patient id much rather see a nurse who enjoyed their job

You know what makes me laugh.

All the people who say "If you can't afford to pay the wage increases, national insurance increases, pension increases yadda yadda then your business is unsuccessful and should go under" labour under the delusion that they are nice kind, good, left leaning principled people who want The Workers, who are being exploited by the nasty businesses, to become less poor. What they are actually espousing is proper capitalist theory i.e. that businesses complete to provide the best (cheapest) service to the consumer, and if they fail they go under, leaving the ones who have survived to forge ahead.

Can they see no irony in that?

Yeah... you may do. We all have bills to pay. Also maybe you haven't nursed for 15 years yet.

Do nurses make more in the private hospitals?

I’ve worked in healthcare in various posts since I was 18 so nearly 20 years, I just happen to work in an area I’m passionate about doesn’t mean I don’t feel anger at pay and conditions

Companies will just stop employing people. They will also increase prices to cover additional costs so we’ll all be shafted.

I can tell you that not all small business owners are living the high life

This will also affect small businesses who don't have shareholders and don't make millions in profits.

@AutumnLeavesandKnittedJumpers

Working class, in Grimsby on NMW

Of course we need small businesses. It's about community. Small tea rooms do poetry nights, let Andy's Man Club hold group there for no charge, run a little auction out of the back room that half the women over 70 on the estate go to, do Xmas raffles for local charities and instead of throwing the stale cakes in the bin, they dish them out to the homeless blokes that live in the doorways
We're losing so much after years of austerity. If the cafe on the park goes bust, then the warm space with free hot meals for those in need goes with it
Meeting places. The group for carers of disabled children goes. People have even less support. The last thing we need to lose is small business around here
We don't need another coffee chain on our nearly empty high street. And if you think I'll see any difference in my life from this hike, you're having a laugh. Not in real terms, not when everything else goes up again to pay for it

Small and medium business have been absolutely pummeled by the ni hike.
Their other bills have gone up as well ,utilities and water is worse than the gas and electric! Put on top other rising prices and now this they won't survive actually.

It's been to hard ,the credit crisis then cost of living ,two years of no income with COVID ...and now our government punishing them

The ni hike has already meant that less young people under 25 are being employed and this will just bring it to a halt.

If things had been different over the last 20 years perhaps it would have been a good idea but in the eccomic landscape we have been through this is catastrophic , short sighted and will cause slow burn CARNAGE. She's just been on TV saying business wants more discretion spending and this will help that ????

What she should have done is increase the thresholds were lower paid pay less tax.

It's a disgrace.

@GregoryFluff I agree it's so so sad. ..I've never heard such stupidity in my life and she sounds so removed from normal people lives. .
The law of unintended consequences .

I'm on the cusp I'm not far over the first threshold I got a 1.5 % pay rise .

It's eaten by tax and NI.

She's not helping me.

I think the problem lies in that a significant rise in the NMW will not be replicated in other jobs just above minimum wage. Therefore, more skilled jobs, even graduate jobs, will be being paid only just above minimum wage for significantly more responsibility and expectation. This is the unfairness and will impact productivity when people feel they are expected to do significantly more for only a few pounds more so will start to slack off.

MN
“I am skint on 100k a year”
also MN
”we shouldn’t put minimum wage up, it’s high enough”

@TheZingyFish

Many graduatess can't get work and work in small business there will be no jobs

Think about the nmw this way. If someone wants to voluntarily work for under NMW they cannot. Even if they agree and the business agrees.

Great so all the businesses that are just about surviving at the moment and can't afford to pay the increased NMW go out of business. What happens to the employees then?

@PomandersandRedRibbon
And many are doing jobs that require a degree yet are being paid just above NMW whilst being expected to work using high level skills and be flexible to get the work done even if it takes them over their contracted hours. The gap between NMW and what they earn will be decreasing all the time yet the difference in work won’t.

I agree. The difference between NMW jobs and their managers will be reduced (and I’ve seen this happen in real life).

Agree with the points about the impact to smaller businesses. This will also impact larger firms and corporates. Many are already reducing the graduate and trainee roles on offer, and focusing on automation and offshoring to cheaper locations. I don't think today's news is going to encourage any of them to slow that down or reconsider their strategy.

I really worry about the downstream impact of this to apprentices and new graduates, and the long term consequences to NMW employees. When labour becomes increasingly expensive, big businesses tend to look for ways to reduce that cost. AI and automation can be always on, does not take sick time, holiday time or need wage rises.