The National Minimum Wage is 20 years old today. Despite the controversy surrounding its inception, it is now widely accepted … Continue reading “The minimum wage – 20 years on”

“How much do you earn then?” You get asked this a lot when you do media work discussing pay. Last … Continue reading “The UK: a place where everyone has an opinion about what everyone else should be paid”

It is common for Living Wage campaigners to say that adoption of the Living Wage “would benefit staff and businesses”. … Continue reading “The Living Wage: beware the trade-off deniers”

It’s “Living Wage Week”. For seven days, the Living Wage Foundation’s campaign for employers to pay workers at least £8.25 … Continue reading “We need a ‘Living Cost Week’, not a Living Wage Week”

Ikea, the self-assembly furniture giant, has announced that it will be introducing the living wage next year. Those who campaigned … Continue reading “The living wage may be a fashionable idea, but we don’t actually need it”

Iain Martin argues not just that George Osborne was right to raise the minimum wage but that: “It must feel good to … Continue reading “Iain Martin is wrong on the living wage”

George Osborne’s desired message was clear. He claimed last week’s Budget was a new settlement for a “higher wage, lower … Continue reading “Ignore the rhetoric: George Osborne’s July Budget was a retreat from market liberalism”

With £12bn of working age welfare cuts expected in this Budget, Conservative voices are clamouring for the “Living Wage” to … Continue reading “Two more bad arguments for why Britain needs a mandatory Living Wage”

An unusual alliance has in recent times lined up to support a significant increase in the minimum wage to the … Continue reading “Do tax credits ‘subsidise’ employers?”