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.

So the Kitchen assistant gets more chefs request more as they are usually skilled and qualified,eating out costs more as the menu is all a pound more now and pubs restaurants see less customer bookings.
Pubs and restaurants are closing all the time.
It's all b **cks.

That's my point. People on the next level up are not getting the increase and the gap is getting smaller.

I think we are

There’s a strange contradiction where people resent benefit top-ups for low-paid workers but fiercely oppose raising the minimum wage. We can’t have it both ways — if work is meant to pay, wages have to actually do that. But it’s not as simple as “just raise wages” when you consider the impact on small businesses. A tiny café or shop can’t suddenly find an extra £300 a week for payroll without either hiking prices (which draws complaints) or cutting staff (which also draws complaints). Margins are already razor-thin for the places we claim to love on our high streets. The result is a cycle: low wages → workers need top-ups → people complain about the top-ups → no one addresses the wage issue → small businesses can’t absorb the cost anyway. Meanwhile, essential jobs like carers, cleaners, childcare workers, and retail staff are paid so poorly that society runs on the goodwill and exhaustion of people barely making rent. If we want fewer top-ups, we need a wage floor that supports a decent life and a government ready to help small businesses bridge the gap instead of leaving them to struggle. It’s not rocket science — just political will. Both the current and previous governments don’t support industries, small to medium businesses, self-employed individuals, sole traders, and so on. Essentially, the government does not encourage the creation of wealth.

Henry Ford was to put it mildly an interesting character but he realised that he had to pay his workers well enough for them to be able to buy his cars

As he rightly said it's a poor business if it can't pay a decent wage to everyone involved

But to be fair, their business may have been viable before two wage increases. I get what you’re saying, that they should have paid more to start with. But what business will pay way over the going rate for a role, it doesn’t work like that. Those businesses were viable and then increasing the wage they have to pay will make them not so, if they have a lot of staff

I am still waiting for someone to come up with any suggestion to recreate all the jobs that will be lost when the 'unviable' businesses are shut down (to a round of applause by some MNetters - that will show the greedy owners!).
Nothing yet. Just the usual high-minded theory with no practical ideas to back it up.

This is very much the point, People have basically been subsidised to be self-employed because it looks better on the figures than admitting that 50% of the population are surplus to requirement.
We would have to pay them to exist in some capacity. Or dispose of them, which is less palatable these days. I’ve got no doubt whatsoever. A war is on the horizon to deal with the problem soon though.