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Tag: minimum wage

  • Healey suggests Labour won’t keep manifesto pledge to end youth minimum wage gap

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    https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/healey-suggests-labour-wont-keep-manifesto-pledge-end-youth-minimum-wage-gap

    [John Healey]

    CHANCELLOR John Healey refused to say today whether Labour will meet its manifesto commitment to end the “discriminatory” minimum wage gap for young people.

    In 2024 Labour committed to closing the gap between the adult minimum wage and pay for 18 to 20-year-olds, but in last week’s Budget, Mr Healey said that younger workers would see the same 3.9 per cent rise as older workers, leaving a £1.94 hourly difference between 18- to 20-year-olds (£11.27) and those aged 21 and over (£13.21).

    Unions have strongly opposed the minimum wage gap for young workers and warned the government against breaking its pledge to equalise pay.

    Asked whether Labour may break the commitment on the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg today, Mr Healey said: “There’s no question about whether or if: it’s a question of when. It’s a question of how fast. And I want to make sure that we can look hard at those trade-offs that inevitably are there between jobs and wages.

    “I want to take business, I want to take trade unions with me and with the government, because together we have to get into what at the moment is a moral shame on this nation: a million youngsters written off, without any prospect of being helped into work and making a contribution to this country for the future.”

    …

    Continues at https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/healey-suggests-labour-wont-keep-manifesto-pledge-end-youth-minimum-wage-gap

    Andy Burnham brings absurd comedy to politics
    Andy Burnham brings absurd comedy to politics

  • Truss-supporting economists call for minimum wage to be frozen, then cut

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    https://leftfootforward.org/2023/11/truss-supporting-economists-call-for-minimum-wage-to-be-frozen-then-cut/

    ‘Is it too much of a stretch to recognise that poverty is the CAUSE of poor growth.’

    Image of cash and pre-payment meter key
    Image of cash and pre-payment meter key

    …

    The Growth Commission was formed by Liz Truss, following her resignation as prime minister after her chaotic 49 days in government. Truss was in the audience at the Commission’s event, alongside Jacob Rees-Mogg and former Brexit negotiator, Lord David Frost.

    Minimum wage rates increased in April. The level is currently set at £10.42 an hour for those aged 23 and over. 21-22-year-olds must be paid a minimum of £10.18 an hour, 18 to 20-year-olds receive £7.49 and under 18s and apprentices have to be paid no lower than an hourly rate of £5.28.

    Growth Commission co-chairman, Shanker Singham, said the group was “concerned about how high” Britain’s minimum wage is compared with other countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

    “There is nothing wrong with the minimum wage. What matters in terms of competition is where it is set,” said Singham.

    “What we are intending to do in the UK is move it to 66 percent of median wage, which is far higher than any other OECD country by next year and will be a significant drag on the economy.

    “So we are suggesting freezing it and targeting it down to 61 percent.

    “Even that small reduction or that small change in minimum wage has a very big impact on GDP per capita, according to our calculations,” he added.

    …

    https://leftfootforward.org/2023/11/truss-supporting-economists-call-for-minimum-wage-to-be-frozen-then-cut/