Minimum Wage,£7 an hour
Poll: Minimum Wage,£7 an hour
Total Members Polled: 313
Discussion
rover 623gsi said:
problem is - we live in an (increasingly) hourglass economy. There are jobs at the top and at the bottom bit fewer and fewer in the middle as semi-skilled positions disappear and more and more companies develop flatter structures.
Furthermore, more jobs are now part-time. In retail it's very rare now for jobs below management level to offer full time positions and when you think that the the big four supermarkets alone - Tesco, Sainsbury's Morrisons and Asda - employ 1 million people it brings it home just how many people are working in low pay, short hour positions. So, there are plenty of people on minimum wage who don't even get the chance to work full time, let alone do overtime.
(My wife works at Asda and even over the xmas period they were asking staff to go home, or not come in in order to save money on wages so don't kid yourself that you can just rack up loads of overtime.)
As a second family income, minimum wage is okay - depending on the income of the other wage earner.
If you're a young person living at home, and are lucky enough to be working full time on minimum wage then you can have a pretty good, fun life. If you want to leave home then you can probably forget it.
how many of those supermarket workers (and other part time workers) are receiving working tax credit?Furthermore, more jobs are now part-time. In retail it's very rare now for jobs below management level to offer full time positions and when you think that the the big four supermarkets alone - Tesco, Sainsbury's Morrisons and Asda - employ 1 million people it brings it home just how many people are working in low pay, short hour positions. So, there are plenty of people on minimum wage who don't even get the chance to work full time, let alone do overtime.
(My wife works at Asda and even over the xmas period they were asking staff to go home, or not come in in order to save money on wages so don't kid yourself that you can just rack up loads of overtime.)
As a second family income, minimum wage is okay - depending on the income of the other wage earner.
If you're a young person living at home, and are lucky enough to be working full time on minimum wage then you can have a pretty good, fun life. If you want to leave home then you can probably forget it.
pork911 said:
rover 623gsi said:
problem is - we live in an (increasingly) hourglass economy. There are jobs at the top and at the bottom bit fewer and fewer in the middle as semi-skilled positions disappear and more and more companies develop flatter structures.
Furthermore, more jobs are now part-time. In retail it's very rare now for jobs below management level to offer full time positions and when you think that the the big four supermarkets alone - Tesco, Sainsbury's Morrisons and Asda - employ 1 million people it brings it home just how many people are working in low pay, short hour positions. So, there are plenty of people on minimum wage who don't even get the chance to work full time, let alone do overtime.
(My wife works at Asda and even over the xmas period they were asking staff to go home, or not come in in order to save money on wages so don't kid yourself that you can just rack up loads of overtime.)
As a second family income, minimum wage is okay - depending on the income of the other wage earner.
If you're a young person living at home, and are lucky enough to be working full time on minimum wage then you can have a pretty good, fun life. If you want to leave home then you can probably forget it.
how many of those supermarket workers (and other part time workers) are receiving working tax credit?Furthermore, more jobs are now part-time. In retail it's very rare now for jobs below management level to offer full time positions and when you think that the the big four supermarkets alone - Tesco, Sainsbury's Morrisons and Asda - employ 1 million people it brings it home just how many people are working in low pay, short hour positions. So, there are plenty of people on minimum wage who don't even get the chance to work full time, let alone do overtime.
(My wife works at Asda and even over the xmas period they were asking staff to go home, or not come in in order to save money on wages so don't kid yourself that you can just rack up loads of overtime.)
As a second family income, minimum wage is okay - depending on the income of the other wage earner.
If you're a young person living at home, and are lucky enough to be working full time on minimum wage then you can have a pretty good, fun life. If you want to leave home then you can probably forget it.
If the benefits were cut, then people wouldn't be able to afford to work in these sort of jobs, so either the business would fail, or they'd have to up their hourly rate.
Mobile Chicane said:
£7/hr is wrong. It's actually £6.31.
A 37.5 hour week on the above would give you £1,025.38 gross and £932.14 net per month.
I challenge anyone to live on that around here. The cheapest private rental property in Dorking is £695 per month for a poky basement, plus Council Tax, bills etc.
So someone on minimum wage is entitled to Tax Credits, you may say.
I've plugged the numbers for a single person with no children into the Working Tax Credit calculator. This gives a further £65.58 between now and 5/4/2014. Whoopdy doo.
http://www.propertywide.co.uk/rent/property/-in-guildford,gu2-for-gbp-400-pcm-ref-2678161/A 37.5 hour week on the above would give you £1,025.38 gross and £932.14 net per month.
I challenge anyone to live on that around here. The cheapest private rental property in Dorking is £695 per month for a poky basement, plus Council Tax, bills etc.
So someone on minimum wage is entitled to Tax Credits, you may say.
I've plugged the numbers for a single person with no children into the Working Tax Credit calculator. This gives a further £65.58 between now and 5/4/2014. Whoopdy doo.
That wasn't hard!
I currently earn just over £7 an hour and live in a c.£400 a month bedsit. No partner, kids, don't drink, smoke, dine out or have much of a social life but even then it's only just enough to break even. At the moment even a rented one bedroom flat is beyond my means once you start factoring in tax and bills, and frankly the mere thought of a mortgage is laughable. Used to get a small amount of Housing Benefit but that was stopped since I was apparently earning too much money, I've just looked at tax credits and I can claim a massive £3.86 every 4 months. Can't help but think if I'd had a few kids by the time I was 20 and never bothered working I'd be in a far better situation. Luckily I have no credit cards or other debts beyond the student loan, but I have no idea how other people at work can afford kids, Sky, fairly new cars or other luxuries. I suppose the point I'm getting at is even raising it to that level would make little difference to most people
I'd be happy to see the minimum wage rise, but I'm not sure that it's practical for it to rise to a level that would allow someone in the south east to pay a mortgage, run a car, and raise a family.
As a second income, for a young person living at home, for someone at the beginning of their career, or for someone prepared to live in a shared house, £6/£7/£8 is acceptable (imo), but a true living wage would probably be double our current minimum and that would be difficult to justify in terms of international competition.
As a second income, for a young person living at home, for someone at the beginning of their career, or for someone prepared to live in a shared house, £6/£7/£8 is acceptable (imo), but a true living wage would probably be double our current minimum and that would be difficult to justify in terms of international competition.
pork911 said:
Is it responsible to have children you can't afford?
I can't follow this logic.People on a low income can't have children only the well off.Look at the families before the war the majority of people where poor with your logic problaby you wouldn't have been born.
People on benefits having more children is another discussion.
Stuartggray said:
I sat in the Jobcentre for 10 months. After six months you don't even get money. This was difficult after a well paid job, three kids and a £800 mortgage.
I got a job yesterday, with the local council, paying less than I used to pay in tax. I'm not f
king pretending smartypants.
On the upside it's a council job so within six months you'll be the manager of something or other on £250k per annum and able to retire at 50 on a pension of eleventy billion pounds. Onwards and upwards! I got a job yesterday, with the local council, paying less than I used to pay in tax. I'm not f
king pretending smartypants. 
Negative Creep said:
I currently earn just over £7 an hour and live in a c.£400 a month bedsit. No partner, kids, don't drink, smoke, dine out or have much of a social life but even then it's only just enough to break even. At the moment even a rented one bedroom flat is beyond my means once you start factoring in tax and bills, and frankly the mere thought of a mortgage is laughable. Used to get a small amount of Housing Benefit but that was stopped since I was apparently earning too much money, I've just looked at tax credits and I can claim a massive £3.86 every 4 months. Can't help but think if I'd had a few kids by the time I was 20 and never bothered working I'd be in a far better situation. Luckily I have no credit cards or other debts beyond the student loan, but I have no idea how other people at work can afford kids, Sky, fairly new cars or other luxuries. I suppose the point I'm getting at is even raising it to that level would make little difference to most people
I sympathise enormously.Thanks to the recession, salaries have tanked, while house prices (and therefore rents) have risen exponentially.
My 1995 Hammersmith grotty house share cost me £500 a month all-in; in 2014 it's £800 plus bills.
Yet salaries in my gig are currently at 1995 levels, or even less.
How anyone affords to live in London - without the Bank of Mummie and Daddie stepping in - is beyond me.
Edited by Mobile Chicane on Friday 17th January 19:54
People are always surprised when they hear a few details on my situation, I earn a few quid above minimum wage an hour basic but with a bit of overtime and some bonuses can get this above the UK national wage, mortgage is £300 per month for myself and partner who earns circa 20k. Luckily I had a reasonable deposit as our house would be more like £500-600 to rent(Another issue in the UK, especially London and popular commuter areas is rental prices).
I think people overspend and then complain about not having enough money to cover all the expensive items they want, or finance these items and cripple themselves financially with repayments at ridiculous interest rates.
I don't think the problem is minimum wage itself, unfortunately (in my experience) the people earning the least are the most likely to be poor at managing a budget, motivated by the opinions of others (Keeping up with the Jones'-ers and highly susceptible to what they believe is a good deal (TVs on finance, car leasing "deals", SALE items) They believe they are saving money and stretching that £7 a bit further but in reality it soon catches up and they are worse off than if they had just lived within their means.
I think people overspend and then complain about not having enough money to cover all the expensive items they want, or finance these items and cripple themselves financially with repayments at ridiculous interest rates.
I don't think the problem is minimum wage itself, unfortunately (in my experience) the people earning the least are the most likely to be poor at managing a budget, motivated by the opinions of others (Keeping up with the Jones'-ers and highly susceptible to what they believe is a good deal (TVs on finance, car leasing "deals", SALE items) They believe they are saving money and stretching that £7 a bit further but in reality it soon catches up and they are worse off than if they had just lived within their means.
Oakey said:
Stuartggray said:
I sat in the Jobcentre for 10 months. After six months you don't even get money. This was difficult after a well paid job, three kids and a £800 mortgage.
I got a job yesterday, with the local council, paying less than I used to pay in tax. I'm not fking pretending smartypants.
On the upside it's a council job so within six months you'll be the manager of something or other on £250k per annum and able to retire at 50 on a pension of eleventy billion pounds. Onwards and upwards! I got a job yesterday, with the local council, paying less than I used to pay in tax. I'm not f
king pretending smartypants. king 53 already! I need to get to 55 in a job to score! Council jobs seem to be dead mans shoes, so I'll have to go Machiavellian.Foppo said:
pork911 said:
Is it responsible to have children you can't afford?
I can't follow this logic.People on a low income can't have children only the well off.Look at the families before the war the majority of people where poor with your logic problaby you wouldn't have been born.
People on benefits having more children is another discussion.
Gassing Station | News, Politics & Economics | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff