No Suprise

[teacake44]

I was chatting to three guys yesterday that work for the same shop, all three said their hours had been cut, no sooner that the minimum wage went up this year. All three of them already work short hours, so what's the point of the minimum wage being set in the first place, I can't see one.

[bednobs]

one would presume if they were needed they would be used. If they are not needed, why pay for them

[roopower]

I think it will get worse if the minimum wage is put up even more. Some smaller businesses won't be able to afford the extra, even if they want to.

[Spicerack]

Shouldn't need a minimum wage if society was running properly, like it used to.
The minimum wage quickly became the wage for most working class people.

[teacake44]

Yes Spice your right, I remember the time when I was enjoying overtime work on weekends, double time for Saturday, and even more for Sunday, if you wanted it, that's when things were running as they should.

[JF85]

My local Co-op is opening new branches at the minute. Almost every post is for 16 hours/week at minimum wage. It is not a living income, so the slack needs to be picked up by government in working tax credits and housing benefit. The Co-op are not unique in this, but were brought to my attention by a family member keen to start a long-term career. Clearly the Co-op have no intention of providing such a progression.

The situation has been facilitated by successive governments from more than one party refusing to bite the bullet. We need a realistic trade and employment policy, particularly if we are to avoid sliding back four centuries after Brexit (I am not a fan).

[SIRandyraven]

Hopefully it will give incentive to the young to study , become a professional with marketable skills and avoid being a minimum wage slave. Personally I worked in the IT industry for 38 years and managed to keep my head above water :-)

[SIRandyraven]

Shop work has always been poorly paid.
As a student I did it and only made money when I worked part time in petrol station. Started at age of 16 (yep 16) and left in sole charge illegally of a large shell petrol station (self service). I used to do Sunday morning shift 6am to 2pm and occasional nights. Working in that garage certainly taught me at the university of life.
Watching drunks fall out of cars , fights break out on the forecourt , car crashes and even at the age of 17 watching a chemists catch fire at 5am one Sunday morning , phoning emergency services and then running over road to knock on doors of flats above to wake the residents. Got back to service station and got abuse from a black taxi driver because I had closed station for 15 minutes....

[Old_Geezer]

The point of a minimum wage is too obvious to debate.
Meanwhile if their present employer doesn't want them for a full time job any longer then they should look around for an employer that does.

[Old_Geezer]

The minimum wage should be enough to live off of, or the government is failing in that aspect of their job.

[teacake44]

The minimum wage could well be enough to live on, but not if your only getting 16 hours a week, and the employer keeps cutting those hours every time the minimum is increased. a set minimum wage should be set along minimum hours, other than that the ball will always be in the employers court.

[237SJ]

The ball is always in the employers court these days and that's why zero hours contracts exist.

[Cloverjo]

I read somewhere that employees of possibly the richest woman in our country - the Queen - barely make enough to live on, and have to have top up benefits.

[237SJ]

I think most people who move to London to work for the Queen or anyone else in the Government don't get paid well.. At least if you work for the Royals, you probably get free accommodation. I was offererd a job in the Foreign Office and when I turned that down, the Foreign Office. The pay was dire.

[237SJ]

"and when I turned that down, the *Cabinet* office"

[THECORBYLOON]

If someone has a part-time job, what's to stop them from taking on additional employment?

[Spicerack]

//The point of a minimum wage is too obvious to debate.//

Is it really?
Would it have been needed without mass-immigration?

[TonyV]

SIR I used to do a few jobs after school for the princely sum of 30p per hour in the 1970s.
Ended up at garage used to work 12 Hr shift on Saturday, used to mend tyres, top up new batteries with acid, and clean workshop and brush forecourt.
Made posters, Sometimes I wish i had taken apprenticeship they offered, but my dad said no.

[Spicerack]

THECORBYLOON //If someone has a part-time job, what's to stop them from taking on additional employment?//

I'd imagine there are myriad obstacles. That's not to say some people 'aren't lucky enough' to manage it.

[tonyav]

Something that I have noticed of late ( the opposite to cutting hours ) is jobs advertised mainly in industry ( and usually in tuppeny hap'eny units ) 42 to 45 hours a week usually at minimum wage which means to me that they are getting X amount of overtime from the workers at minimum rate and they are contracted to those hours ( no time and half ect ). Didn't seem to long ago that most industrial jobs were usually 37 1/2 to 39 hours

[THECORBYLOON]

If an employee works overtime, unless the contract says otherwise, there is no obligation on the employer to pay more for those additional hours.