What effect has the introduction of a national minimum wage had?
The national minimum wage has been a central plank in the government’s strategy to tackle poverty. It has ensured, probably for the first time, that the wages of the lowest paid in the UK have increased relative to the increases in the average wage. Also the fact that women particularly women in part-time work have benefited most from this policy has helped to narrow the pay gap between men and women. Contrary to the doom-mongers’ predictions that a minimum wage would increase unemployment, there are now more jobs in the British economy than ever before and unemployment is down. Is there a single minimum wage for everybody? There are different rates for different age groups. There is a full adult rate for workers who are aged 22 and over, a development rate for workers aged 18 to 21 and a youth rate for workers aged between 16 and 17. The adult rate is currently 5.52, the development rate is 4.60 and the youth old rate is 3.40. These rates will all rise again in October 2008 to 5.73, 4
