Discussion
People celebrating the increase in national minimum wage today. Question is, is it a good thing or not?
I say it is one of the worst changes to be made by any government. It levelled so many unskilled/semi skilled and even skilled jobs on to a base rate of pay, lower than many could have earned without it. Like any price control it brings everyone down and removes the chance for people to move up. It stagnates the job market and imposes undue financial pressure on businesses.
If the government wanted growth it would scrap NMW today.
I say it is one of the worst changes to be made by any government. It levelled so many unskilled/semi skilled and even skilled jobs on to a base rate of pay, lower than many could have earned without it. Like any price control it brings everyone down and removes the chance for people to move up. It stagnates the job market and imposes undue financial pressure on businesses.
If the government wanted growth it would scrap NMW today.
£26436.80 is the new min wage annual salary (40 hrs p/wk).
And as the min wage rises, regular salaries don't. So many people will begin to ask themselves 'why am I working this highly stressful job that needed qualifications and a tonne of bulls
t paperwork and police checks just to earn 5k more a year than I would stacking shelves at Lidl?'
This will have enormous implication and second order effects.
Wage compression means it's infinitely preferable to work in a card shop than striving in any other way.
At first, this might seem egalitarian and progressive.
However, because motivation and ambition are nuked, only multinationals with resources to invest in AI and automation will thrive. The card shop will close, off to the unemployment list we go.
Then you end up with this protofascist utopia where the only private sector left is corporate and everything is micromanaged through the state who have infinite access and power to blackmail the st out of people in exchange for access to services, resources and even communication.
In that world, morale and motivation go below the floor. People stop breeding altogether.
Lovely.
And as the min wage rises, regular salaries don't. So many people will begin to ask themselves 'why am I working this highly stressful job that needed qualifications and a tonne of bulls
t paperwork and police checks just to earn 5k more a year than I would stacking shelves at Lidl?'This will have enormous implication and second order effects.
Wage compression means it's infinitely preferable to work in a card shop than striving in any other way.
At first, this might seem egalitarian and progressive.
However, because motivation and ambition are nuked, only multinationals with resources to invest in AI and automation will thrive. The card shop will close, off to the unemployment list we go.
Then you end up with this protofascist utopia where the only private sector left is corporate and everything is micromanaged through the state who have infinite access and power to blackmail the s
t out of people in exchange for access to services, resources and even communication. In that world, morale and motivation go below the floor. People stop breeding altogether.
Lovely.
Tom8 said:
People celebrating the increase in national minimum wage today. Question is, is it a good thing or not?
I say it is one of the worst changes to be made by any government. It levelled so many unskilled/semi skilled and even skilled jobs on to a base rate of pay, lower than many could have earned without it. Like any price control it brings everyone down and removes the chance for people to move up. It stagnates the job market and imposes undue financial pressure on businesses.
If the government wanted growth it would scrap NMW today.
The better option would be to keep NMW at lower levels and do what Reform are suggesting and start paying tax at £20k. That way people are incentivised to work that bit harder and won't get penalised (taxed) until they reach a more sensible threshold.I say it is one of the worst changes to be made by any government. It levelled so many unskilled/semi skilled and even skilled jobs on to a base rate of pay, lower than many could have earned without it. Like any price control it brings everyone down and removes the chance for people to move up. It stagnates the job market and imposes undue financial pressure on businesses.
If the government wanted growth it would scrap NMW today.
stuckmojo said:
£26436.80 is the new min wage annual salary (40 hrs p/wk).
And as the min wage rises, regular salaries don't. So many people will begin to ask themselves 'why am I working this highly stressful job that needed qualifications and a tonne of bullst paperwork and police checks just to earn 5k more a year than I would stacking shelves at Lidl?'
This will have enormous implication and second order effects.
Wage compression means it's infinitely preferable to work in a card shop than striving in any other way.
At first, this might seem egalitarian and progressive.
However, because motivation and ambition are nuked, only multinationals with resources to invest in AI and automation will thrive. The card shop will close, off to the unemployment list we go.
Then you end up with this protofascist utopia where the only private sector left is corporate and everything is micromanaged through the state who have infinite access and power to blackmail the st out of people in exchange for access to services, resources and even communication.
In that world, morale and motivation go below the floor. People stop breeding altogether.
Lovely.
when i've looked on line most Jobs when they hit £35000 are requiring a certain level of responsibility (safety or financial critical) or a certain level of qualification (degree etc) And as the min wage rises, regular salaries don't. So many people will begin to ask themselves 'why am I working this highly stressful job that needed qualifications and a tonne of bulls
t paperwork and police checks just to earn 5k more a year than I would stacking shelves at Lidl?'This will have enormous implication and second order effects.
Wage compression means it's infinitely preferable to work in a card shop than striving in any other way.
At first, this might seem egalitarian and progressive.
However, because motivation and ambition are nuked, only multinationals with resources to invest in AI and automation will thrive. The card shop will close, off to the unemployment list we go.
Then you end up with this protofascist utopia where the only private sector left is corporate and everything is micromanaged through the state who have infinite access and power to blackmail the s
t out of people in exchange for access to services, resources and even communication. In that world, morale and motivation go below the floor. People stop breeding altogether.
Lovely.
the take home difference between that minimum wage and the £35k is about £500 a month. Is that £500 a month worth the stress and responsibility vs shelf stacking and a complete brain switch off?
NuckyThompson said:
when i've looked on line most Jobs when they hit £35000 are requiring a certain level of responsibility (safety or financial critical) or a certain level of qualification (degree etc)
the take home difference between that minimum wage and the £35k is about £500 a month. Is that £500 a month worth the stress and responsibility vs shelf stacking and a complete brain switch off?
Not at all, considering there are cast iron online guides on how to get a PIP and bring home way more than that while earning a black belt in Netflix. the take home difference between that minimum wage and the £35k is about £500 a month. Is that £500 a month worth the stress and responsibility vs shelf stacking and a complete brain switch off?
stuckmojo said:
£26436.80 is the new min wage annual salary (40 hrs p/wk).
And as the min wage rises, regular salaries don't. So many people will begin to ask themselves 'why am I working this highly stressful job that needed qualifications and a tonne of bullst paperwork and police checks just to earn 5k more a year than I would stacking shelves at Lidl?'
This will have enormous implication and second order effects.
Wage compression means it's infinitely preferable to work in a card shop than striving in any other way.
At first, this might seem egalitarian and progressive.
However, because motivation and ambition are nuked, only multinationals with resources to invest in AI and automation will thrive. The card shop will close, off to the unemployment list we go.
Then you end up with this protofascist utopia where the only private sector left is corporate and everything is micromanaged through the state who have infinite access and power to blackmail the st out of people in exchange for access to services, resources and even communication.
In that world, morale and motivation go below the floor. People stop breeding altogether.
Lovely.
A friend of mine has just left a stressful £34k a year job (no pay rise in 4 years so should really have been on much more) for £28k fully WFH admin job. He couldn’t be happier, slightly poorer but so much less stress and more freedom. There’s little reason to work in the middle ground anymore And as the min wage rises, regular salaries don't. So many people will begin to ask themselves 'why am I working this highly stressful job that needed qualifications and a tonne of bulls
t paperwork and police checks just to earn 5k more a year than I would stacking shelves at Lidl?'This will have enormous implication and second order effects.
Wage compression means it's infinitely preferable to work in a card shop than striving in any other way.
At first, this might seem egalitarian and progressive.
However, because motivation and ambition are nuked, only multinationals with resources to invest in AI and automation will thrive. The card shop will close, off to the unemployment list we go.
Then you end up with this protofascist utopia where the only private sector left is corporate and everything is micromanaged through the state who have infinite access and power to blackmail the s
t out of people in exchange for access to services, resources and even communication. In that world, morale and motivation go below the floor. People stop breeding altogether.
Lovely.
stuckmojo said:
Not at all, considering there are cast iron online guides on how to get a PIP and bring home way more than that while earning a black belt in Netflix.
Yeah and to be fair Years ago i AirBNB'd a room out in my house for a while probably made a few hundred a month there minimum. Where I live now I could stick a shepherd's hut outside and do the same.
My 2p:
The UK faces a big problem, well lots of big problems but the one that effects most of us is the cost-of-living / cost-of-housing problem.
One way to look at it is that increasing the min-wage, increases costs to all employers which in-turn increases prices creating inflation and adds to the problem.
On a personal level, it's hard to look at £26k for a shelf-stacker, burger-flipper, floor mopper or whatever and think "Jesus, that was a decent salary for a middle-aged bread winner not long ago" or even "Jesus, that make my salary after decades of graft and experience seem a bit st relatively".
The problem is that even entry level workers need a roof over their head, food to eat and shoes for their feet and all those things are crazy expensive now, and more still - if they're parents it's not nearly enough so we have to subsidise their employment with tax refunds so they can have a basic standard of life.
I believe the core of the problem isn't the lowest paid workers earning a few pennies more an hour, it's the employers.
Compass Group, UK largest private sector employer. They provider, food, catering and support services so no doubt a huge amount of their staff are min wage. '25 Profits, £2.6bn, '24 Profits £2.3bn, 23 Profits £2.1bn pre-pandemic it was £1.2bn - £1.6bn.
Largest Retail Employer - Tesco. '25 £2.21bn, '24 £2.2bn '23 £2.4bn pre-pandemic it was £1.6bn
Across the board, inequality in the UK is bad, and getting worse. The gap between the super-rich and the rest of us is growing and the gap between generations is growing.
The UK faces a big problem, well lots of big problems but the one that effects most of us is the cost-of-living / cost-of-housing problem.
One way to look at it is that increasing the min-wage, increases costs to all employers which in-turn increases prices creating inflation and adds to the problem.
On a personal level, it's hard to look at £26k for a shelf-stacker, burger-flipper, floor mopper or whatever and think "Jesus, that was a decent salary for a middle-aged bread winner not long ago" or even "Jesus, that make my salary after decades of graft and experience seem a bit s
t relatively".The problem is that even entry level workers need a roof over their head, food to eat and shoes for their feet and all those things are crazy expensive now, and more still - if they're parents it's not nearly enough so we have to subsidise their employment with tax refunds so they can have a basic standard of life.
I believe the core of the problem isn't the lowest paid workers earning a few pennies more an hour, it's the employers.
Compass Group, UK largest private sector employer. They provider, food, catering and support services so no doubt a huge amount of their staff are min wage. '25 Profits, £2.6bn, '24 Profits £2.3bn, 23 Profits £2.1bn pre-pandemic it was £1.2bn - £1.6bn.
Largest Retail Employer - Tesco. '25 £2.21bn, '24 £2.2bn '23 £2.4bn pre-pandemic it was £1.6bn
Across the board, inequality in the UK is bad, and getting worse. The gap between the super-rich and the rest of us is growing and the gap between generations is growing.
P-Jay said:
My 2p:
The UK faces a big problem, well lots of big problems but the one that effects most of us is the cost-of-living / cost-of-housing problem.
One way to look at it is that increasing the min-wage, increases costs to all employers which in-turn increases prices creating inflation and adds to the problem.
On a personal level, it's hard to look at £26k for a shelf-stacker, burger-flipper, floor mopper or whatever and think "Jesus, that was a decent salary for a middle-aged bread winner not long ago" or even "Jesus, that make my salary after decades of graft and experience seem a bit st relatively".
The problem is that even entry level workers need a roof over their head, food to eat and shoes for their feet and all those things are crazy expensive now, and more still - if they're parents it's not nearly enough so we have to subsidise their employment with tax refunds so they can have a basic standard of life.
I believe the core of the problem isn't the lowest paid workers earning a few pennies more an hour, it's the employers.
Compass Group, UK largest private sector employer. They provider, food, catering and support services so no doubt a huge amount of their staff are min wage. '25 Profits, £2.6bn, '24 Profits £2.3bn, 23 Profits £2.1bn pre-pandemic it was £1.2bn - £1.6bn.
Largest Retail Employer - Tesco. '25 £2.21bn, '24 £2.2bn '23 £2.4bn pre-pandemic it was £1.6bn
Across the board, inequality in the UK is bad, and getting worse. The gap between the super-rich and the rest of us is growing and the gap between generations is growing.
The last statement has nothing to do with NMW but anyway, Compass and Tesco are both publicly listed companies, ones where your pension will be invested, they exist to generate profits for shareholders. That how the world works, nothing to do with NMW.The UK faces a big problem, well lots of big problems but the one that effects most of us is the cost-of-living / cost-of-housing problem.
One way to look at it is that increasing the min-wage, increases costs to all employers which in-turn increases prices creating inflation and adds to the problem.
On a personal level, it's hard to look at £26k for a shelf-stacker, burger-flipper, floor mopper or whatever and think "Jesus, that was a decent salary for a middle-aged bread winner not long ago" or even "Jesus, that make my salary after decades of graft and experience seem a bit s
t relatively".The problem is that even entry level workers need a roof over their head, food to eat and shoes for their feet and all those things are crazy expensive now, and more still - if they're parents it's not nearly enough so we have to subsidise their employment with tax refunds so they can have a basic standard of life.
I believe the core of the problem isn't the lowest paid workers earning a few pennies more an hour, it's the employers.
Compass Group, UK largest private sector employer. They provider, food, catering and support services so no doubt a huge amount of their staff are min wage. '25 Profits, £2.6bn, '24 Profits £2.3bn, 23 Profits £2.1bn pre-pandemic it was £1.2bn - £1.6bn.
Largest Retail Employer - Tesco. '25 £2.21bn, '24 £2.2bn '23 £2.4bn pre-pandemic it was £1.6bn
Across the board, inequality in the UK is bad, and getting worse. The gap between the super-rich and the rest of us is growing and the gap between generations is growing.
The problem with NMW is not with these behemoth businesses because they can add 0.1% to their sales and cover the increases.
The problem is the biggest employer in the country is actually SMEs, who cannot just endlessly give out unfunded pay rises to workers because government makes it law. Business simply doesn;t work that way and the difficulties it creates are nuanced. I have one guy on NMW full time, he's a nice lad but costs now around £30k a year including NI, it just doesn't stack up financially, he's not that good. Add into that I have people on more than NMW but the delta is closing so they all expect to be paid more, plus the extra NI costs. It's a mess created by ideologues who have no clue what they are actually doing but as long as they get seals clapping at their next speech day that all that matters.
I think the public are slowly waking up to the reality that pushing up the NMW hits them with price increases in their daily living.
M1AGM said:
P-Jay said:
My 2p:
The UK faces a big problem, well lots of big problems but the one that effects most of us is the cost-of-living / cost-of-housing problem.
One way to look at it is that increasing the min-wage, increases costs to all employers which in-turn increases prices creating inflation and adds to the problem.
On a personal level, it's hard to look at £26k for a shelf-stacker, burger-flipper, floor mopper or whatever and think "Jesus, that was a decent salary for a middle-aged bread winner not long ago" or even "Jesus, that make my salary after decades of graft and experience seem a bit st relatively".
The problem is that even entry level workers need a roof over their head, food to eat and shoes for their feet and all those things are crazy expensive now, and more still - if they're parents it's not nearly enough so we have to subsidise their employment with tax refunds so they can have a basic standard of life.
I believe the core of the problem isn't the lowest paid workers earning a few pennies more an hour, it's the employers.
Compass Group, UK largest private sector employer. They provider, food, catering and support services so no doubt a huge amount of their staff are min wage. '25 Profits, £2.6bn, '24 Profits £2.3bn, 23 Profits £2.1bn pre-pandemic it was £1.2bn - £1.6bn.
Largest Retail Employer - Tesco. '25 £2.21bn, '24 £2.2bn '23 £2.4bn pre-pandemic it was £1.6bn
Across the board, inequality in the UK is bad, and getting worse. The gap between the super-rich and the rest of us is growing and the gap between generations is growing.
The last statement has nothing to do with NMW but anyway, Compass and Tesco are both publicly listed companies, ones where your pension will be invested, they exist to generate profits for shareholders. That how the world works, nothing to do with NMW.The UK faces a big problem, well lots of big problems but the one that effects most of us is the cost-of-living / cost-of-housing problem.
One way to look at it is that increasing the min-wage, increases costs to all employers which in-turn increases prices creating inflation and adds to the problem.
On a personal level, it's hard to look at £26k for a shelf-stacker, burger-flipper, floor mopper or whatever and think "Jesus, that was a decent salary for a middle-aged bread winner not long ago" or even "Jesus, that make my salary after decades of graft and experience seem a bit s
t relatively".The problem is that even entry level workers need a roof over their head, food to eat and shoes for their feet and all those things are crazy expensive now, and more still - if they're parents it's not nearly enough so we have to subsidise their employment with tax refunds so they can have a basic standard of life.
I believe the core of the problem isn't the lowest paid workers earning a few pennies more an hour, it's the employers.
Compass Group, UK largest private sector employer. They provider, food, catering and support services so no doubt a huge amount of their staff are min wage. '25 Profits, £2.6bn, '24 Profits £2.3bn, 23 Profits £2.1bn pre-pandemic it was £1.2bn - £1.6bn.
Largest Retail Employer - Tesco. '25 £2.21bn, '24 £2.2bn '23 £2.4bn pre-pandemic it was £1.6bn
Across the board, inequality in the UK is bad, and getting worse. The gap between the super-rich and the rest of us is growing and the gap between generations is growing.
The problem with NMW is not with these behemoth businesses because they can add 0.1% to their sales and cover the increases.
The problem is the biggest employer in the country is actually SMEs, who cannot just endlessly give out unfunded pay rises to workers because government makes it law. Business simply doesn;t work that way and the difficulties it creates are nuanced. I have one guy on NMW full time, he's a nice lad but costs now around £30k a year including NI, it just doesn't stack up financially, he's not that good. Add into that I have people on more than NMW but the delta is closing so they all expect to be paid more, plus the extra NI costs. It's a mess created by ideologues who have no clue what they are actually doing but as long as they get seals clapping at their next speech day that all that matters.
I think the public are slowly waking up to the reality that pushing up the NMW hits them with price increases in their daily living.
A lot of SMEs now recruit labour cash in hand paid by customer. And the exchequer misses out as it does with increased levies on the public.
It is a socialist utopia that fails miserably like any socialist utopia will.
P-Jay said:
Compass Group, UK largest private sector employer. They provider, food, catering and support services so no doubt a huge amount of their staff are min wage. '25 Profits, £2.6bn, '24 Profits £2.3bn, 23 Profits £2.1bn pre-pandemic it was £1.2bn - £1.6bn.
Largest Retail Employer - Tesco. '25 £2.21bn, '24 £2.2bn '23 £2.4bn pre-pandemic it was £1.6bn
Across the board, inequality in the UK is bad, and getting worse. The gap between the super-rich and the rest of us is growing and the gap between generations is growing.
Just stating profits is fairly meaningless without stating turnover and capital employed in the business. £2bn in profit sounds a lot, but less so if turnover needed to achieve that is £70bnLargest Retail Employer - Tesco. '25 £2.21bn, '24 £2.2bn '23 £2.4bn pre-pandemic it was £1.6bn
Across the board, inequality in the UK is bad, and getting worse. The gap between the super-rich and the rest of us is growing and the gap between generations is growing.
JagLover said:
P-Jay said:
Compass Group, UK largest private sector employer. They provider, food, catering and support services so no doubt a huge amount of their staff are min wage. '25 Profits, £2.6bn, '24 Profits £2.3bn, 23 Profits £2.1bn pre-pandemic it was £1.2bn - £1.6bn.
Largest Retail Employer - Tesco. '25 £2.21bn, '24 £2.2bn '23 £2.4bn pre-pandemic it was £1.6bn
Across the board, inequality in the UK is bad, and getting worse. The gap between the super-rich and the rest of us is growing and the gap between generations is growing.
Just stating profits is fairly meaningless without stating turnover and capital employed in the business. £2bn in profit sounds a lot, but less so if turnover needed to achieve that is £70bnLargest Retail Employer - Tesco. '25 £2.21bn, '24 £2.2bn '23 £2.4bn pre-pandemic it was £1.6bn
Across the board, inequality in the UK is bad, and getting worse. The gap between the super-rich and the rest of us is growing and the gap between generations is growing.
stuckmojo said:
£26436.80 is the new min wage annual salary (40 hrs p/wk).
And as the min wage rises, regular salaries don't.
Firstly, many jobs are still 9-5 with an hour for lunch, so 35 hrs/week. That brings the min wage to £23132. That's take home of £1681/month, to put a roof over your head, pay council tax, commute to and from work, cloth and feed yourself. For some, it's to raise a family on. It's absolute crap. And as the min wage rises, regular salaries don't.
Secondly, of course it pushes up salaries across the board. You can't pay the guy supervising the min wage bloke the same salary.
Yes, that increases costs, but so what. Many of the firms paying min wage have turnover and profits in the millions or even billions in some cases.
Perhaps we should be paying more that £1,50 for a cheeseburger or more than £39 for a night in a Travelodge in order to pay the burger flipper and the chambermaid a living wage. Or maybe the CEO shouldn't be on £2m/year plus bonuses whilst he has hundreds of staff on minimum wage.
Or if they want to still sell burgers and hotel rooms for silly prices, maybe shareholders need to take the hit and not the poor cow stripping sheets and making beds for 35 hours a week, which is actually backbreaking work.
I was doing crappy agency work when NMW first came in and at that end of the economy it was a great thing because you now knew you were going to get £3.60 or something minimum rather than the buttons some jobs were paying previously. As others have said, the premiums you used to get for driving rather than labouring, for example, were very quickly eroded, used to be typically 40p/hr you got for 3.5 ton driving, very quickly it was down to 10p then nothing with NMW increases. Factor in pay freezes and fiscal drag on tax higher up in the economy and we’ve now got a situation where take-home pay has totally been compressed and benefits seem to have soared meaning the incentive to actually get a more challenging job (or a job at all) have dramatically diminished. NMW needs to be frozen (ans do many benefits) and the tax bands lifted significantly so we establish a principle of more difficult/challenging/skilled job = significantly more cash in your pocket.
The issue is that it's not pushing up salaries in more senior roles or careers.
Wage compression is a huge issue now.
£25k to stack shelves/flip burgers or whatever, but a teacher or police officer with several years experience, might be on £50k.
It's only double, and after tax, it's never worse.
People are going to start (and already are) questioning why they bother making an effort when the rewards for stressful jobs are so small.
Wage compression is a huge issue now.
£25k to stack shelves/flip burgers or whatever, but a teacher or police officer with several years experience, might be on £50k.
It's only double, and after tax, it's never worse.
People are going to start (and already are) questioning why they bother making an effort when the rewards for stressful jobs are so small.
TwigtheWonderkid said:
Firstly, many jobs are still 9-5 with an hour for lunch, so 35 hrs/week. That brings the min wage to £23132. That's take home of £1681/month, to put a roof over your head, pay council tax, commute to and from work, cloth and feed yourself. For some, it's to raise a family on. It's absolute crap.
Secondly, of course it pushes up salaries across the board. You can't pay the guy supervising the min wage bloke the same salary.
Yes, that increases costs, but so what. Many of the firms paying min wage have turnover and profits in the millions or even billions in some cases.
Perhaps we should be paying more that £1,50 for a cheeseburger or more than £39 for a night in a Travelodge in order to pay the burger flipper and the chambermaid a living wage. Or maybe the CEO shouldn't be on £2m/year plus bonuses whilst he has hundreds of staff on minimum wage.
Or if they want to still sell burgers and hotel rooms for silly prices, maybe shareholders need to take the hit and not the poor cow stripping sheets and making beds for 35 hours a week, which is actually backbreaking work.
the fallacy of "turnover in the billions" misses the largest elephant possible. Their profit margins are tiny in percentages, If they didn't already exist, they would be better off selling and sticking it all on government bonds, which today will guarantee you 5% returns, which are far higher than lots of PLCs do. Secondly, of course it pushes up salaries across the board. You can't pay the guy supervising the min wage bloke the same salary.
Yes, that increases costs, but so what. Many of the firms paying min wage have turnover and profits in the millions or even billions in some cases.
Perhaps we should be paying more that £1,50 for a cheeseburger or more than £39 for a night in a Travelodge in order to pay the burger flipper and the chambermaid a living wage. Or maybe the CEO shouldn't be on £2m/year plus bonuses whilst he has hundreds of staff on minimum wage.
Or if they want to still sell burgers and hotel rooms for silly prices, maybe shareholders need to take the hit and not the poor cow stripping sheets and making beds for 35 hours a week, which is actually backbreaking work.
Dismissing the complexity and challenges of making a profit on huge businesses makes for a facile and fallacious progressive argument. The more you raise the MW, the easier it will be to justify outsourcing and ultimately automation, where the loss of income is total.
The CEO is on £2M per year with bonus as there are very few people capable of running a large organisation safely, competently and with the ability to think strategically. Next, you'll tell me footballers should all play for free as the Sunday league lads don't get paid.
I have a friend who's a regional manager in a relatively successful retail brand. He reckons every increase in NMW means his company are paying out an extra 100k annually in wages. In order to accommodate this increase in wage, they have to increase the cost of clothing they sell, and quite often, have to let some member of staff go in order to balance the books.
So yes, its great if you are a minimum wage worker who doesn't get the bullet, but its not so great if you are the poor sod who now looking for another job, or the person who now has to pay another 10% for that items of clothing to cover the NMW increase.
Is it any wonder so many restaurants & pubs are closing? At some point, people are just going to stop paying the inflated prices and avoid going out for food and drinks.
So yes, its great if you are a minimum wage worker who doesn't get the bullet, but its not so great if you are the poor sod who now looking for another job, or the person who now has to pay another 10% for that items of clothing to cover the NMW increase.
Is it any wonder so many restaurants & pubs are closing? At some point, people are just going to stop paying the inflated prices and avoid going out for food and drinks.
NuckyThompson said:
when i've looked on line most Jobs when they hit £35000 are requiring a certain level of responsibility (safety or financial critical) or a certain level of qualification (degree etc)
the take home difference between that minimum wage and the £35k is about £500 a month. Is that £500 a month worth the stress and responsibility vs shelf stacking and a complete brain switch off?
Depends on your outlook. I felt far more stressed stacking shelves in my youth than I have in any job since graduating.the take home difference between that minimum wage and the £35k is about £500 a month. Is that £500 a month worth the stress and responsibility vs shelf stacking and a complete brain switch off?
Sure, as a senior manager, you sometimes have to carry the can for things that go wrong, but you also have the experience to spot things going wrong and do something about it. When you're out there, on the shop floor, brain shrivelling up through tedium, yet always alert to some member of the public who's going to sneak up on you, or that jobsworth supervisor with a taste of power and a predilection to use it wherever possible.
Maybe I've got lucky, but I'd rather be a HoD in a corporate setting than stack shelves again even if the two paid the same.
STe_rsv4 said:
Is it any wonder so many restaurants & pubs are closing? At some point, people are just going to stop paying the inflated prices and avoid going out for food and drinks.
Also, the very people that are those pubs and restaurants customers, are the very people that are not seeing any real increase in their wages. To those people, everything is becoming more expensive, and so they will cut back going, either somewhat, or in some case, maybe not at all.I also find it interesting that everyone is shouting about Labour doing this, when actually the Tories were also at it for years.
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