Originally Posted by Escapee (Post 35517126)

But wasn't that the aim of the last government, they encouraged single women with children to work 16 hrs minimum wage and married couples to work on minimum wage topped up with tax credits. This made the unemployment figures look good and the 16 hours was also a bit of a job share in many cases, their approach with single people was that they could just rot in hell.

Originally Posted by Damien (Post 35517122)

People made the same arguments against the minimum wage and it didn't really inflate prices to any real degree. We don't really know what will happen, economics isn't an easy science. People always confidently tell you what will happen as the result of economic policy but it never quite works like that. We're told that too high taxes on the rich destroys growth because these peoples' wealth will 'trickle down' but to a large extent that doesn't happen. The rich became rich and the poor remained poor. We can put taxes up to 50% to get more income but that didn't really work either. I don't think anyone knows what will happen, even in this 'real world'.

But I think it's a good idea. If people are being paid so low that it's not worth them taking the job or they need benefits to top up their income just in order to live an 'acceptable' lifestyle then that doesn't help anyone. Yes, you could argue that you have to pay more the in store for an item (maybe) but more of your tax income in going out to these people anyway. So it isn't as simple as driving up costs for everything else.

Originally Posted by papa smurf (Post 35517153)

pay more = charge more - thats why we buy everything made by child slave labour [made in china ];)

Originally Posted by Damien (Post 35517147)

Well it also means that they won't be claiming as much benefit and they have some path back into work, it's much harder for the long term unemployed to find work than those whose spells in unemployment have been short. No policy is perfect but regardless of the perceived motivations of the last government the policy itself wasn't a bad idea and hasn't led, to my knowledge, to the problems people foresee with increasing it to be more in-line with the living wage. People being below what they need to live isn't a good system and will lead to people needing their benefits to be topped up with tax credits.

Originally Posted by Escapee (Post 35517181)

I have to disagree to a certain extent regarding the benefit of subsidised employment. We ended up in the situation where some people not exceeding 16 hours per week are better off than others in full time employment. Some who do not work at all are better off, with more disposable income than those in work, and that can't be right.

Originally Posted by Escapee (Post 35517072)

My opinion is that although the introduction of the minimum wage put a stop to some employers exploiting workers, employees who have had their wages reduced to match the minimum wage are paying for it.

The minimum wage appears to be the target that employers want to pay at the lower end of the job market.

Originally Posted by Escapee (Post 35517126)

But wasn't that the aim of the last government, they encouraged single women with children to work 16 hrs minimum wage and married couples to work on minimum wage topped up with tax credits. This made the unemployment figures look good and the 16 hours was also a bit of a job share in many cases, their approach with single people was that they could just rot in hell.

Originally Posted by TheDaddy (Post 35517303)

Exactly what happened, the arrival of millions of eastern Europeans delighted to be earning minimum money helped fill vacancies to.

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Yeah I got that feeling to by the way every budget they did targeted the "hard working families"