Minimum wage

[tobyaw]

Yesterday the ONS reported a significant rise in the number of people out of work in UK. The government announced that the minimum wage is to get a modest increase in October.

With individuals and businesses suffering from the economic situation, wouldn't it make more sense for the minimum wage to be reduced when unemployment rises? The minimum wage should only rise when the economy is in good shape and unemployment is falling.

Comments

Unemployed versus low wage

[deadnode]

You'd really rather be unemployed, earning a wage of zero, rather than employed on a low wage? In the current system, perhaps that's forced for extreme cases (earning £20/week might lose you £60/week benefits), but that strikes me as a bug which should be eliminated.

Yes, of course it's better to have a better paid job where you're doing something valuable - but when that's not an option, when you're faced with a choice between earning very little and earning nothing at all, should the government really step in to demand the latter?

If you insist on a higher salary or nothing at all, that means that at least some of the time you're forcing no salary at all - which hardly strikes me as an improvement.

Re: Unemployed versus low wage

[purpletigron]

I'm not talking about a 'higher salary' - I'm talking about a basic universal living wage.

I could make better use of my time growing my own food and making and mending my own clothes than doing someone else's bidding for a below-living pittance.