UK plan to raise minimum wage after next month to £10.50 an hour have been backed by experts who say the job market will cope just fine.
Companies are now likely to see wage costs rise after next month’s snap national election, whatever the outcome.
The United Kingdom‘s plan to raise the minimum wage to two-thirds of median earnings, taking it to 10.50 pounds ($13.58) an hour, was endorsed by an independent review on Monday that found setting a floor on pay had a negligible effect on job creation.
Companies are now likely to see wage costs rise after next month’s snap national election, whatever the outcome.
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Conservative Chancellor of the Exchequer Sajid Javid said in September that he would increase the National Living Wage (NLW) to the new target by 2024, provided economic conditions allowed, and expand its reach to all workers over the age of 21, versus the workers over 25 who are covered now.
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The opposition Labour Party said it would raise the minimum wage to 10 pounds ($12.93) an hour immediately if it wins power.
An independent review commissioned by the government from economics professor Arindrajit Dube of the University of Massachusetts Amherst in the United States examined the impact of minimum wages in Germany, the US, Britain, and other countries.
“Based on the overall evidence – with a special emphasis on the recent, high-quality evaluations of the NLW and other more ambitious policies internationally my report concludes that there is room for exploring a higher NLW in the UK up to two-thirds of the median wage,” Dube said. “It will also be important to empirically evaluate and recalibrate any such ambitious policy based on new evidence down the road.”
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Chancellor Javid said of plans to raise the NWL two-thirds by 2024, “The evidence is clear that our approach is the right one.” But Labour said Javid’s pledge “was an insult to our hard-working people”.
UK plan will end low pay by putting the National Living Wage on a path to increase to £10.50 over the next five years.