Quote Originally Posted by regis80 View Post
This is all about economics baggieal. Before the pandemic the unemployment rate was 4%, it currently stands at 4.7% and is expected to go up to 5% after furlough ends. I did a quick check and those figures are from ONS for what the rate is now and an article saying what it was pre-pandemic.
The 4.7% represents about 1.2m out of work (from what I read, sorry too lazy to go back an check as writing off my mobile). Split that 1.2m around the UK, you wonder how much of an impact that is having locally.
Anyway thinking a loud, that 0.7% difference - is it really worth upping the wage for this minute working force from say £9 an hour to £15 an hour? That’s a 67% rise in wages? Would you really consider a 67% rise in wages? Who would? It’s a huge amount. Business owners rightly so have to return profit this is a big hit if you employ a decent number of staff. i’m more for a local business than those like amazon you mention. If you up the wage in one sector it will only move the issue elsewhere (labour and price elasticity if demand). Anyway just some thought from me.
Completely agree. I am all in favour of increasing minimum wage but it needs to be in proportion. A raise from £9 per hour to £15 is a crazy increase.

It basically means a minimum wage worker, working 40 hours per week will be on over £31k per year. Then this will have a domino effect on the rest of the labour market, and of course prices will increase. I could see inflation going through the roof. The economics just wouldn't make sense and small businesses would suffer most, companies like Amazon would probably benefit from it.