How Can you Support Economic Illiterates

[Ed Burroughs]

The GP manifesto clearly supports a min' wage of 8 quid.
The simple laws of supply and demmand dictate that any labour deemed to be worth less than this is not taken up, thus rampant unemployment is guaranteed.

A vote for the greens is a vote for penury!

Idiots.

[prober]

Actually there is a case to be made for every citizen to be paid an allowance of £7000 a year replacing all benefits (and the cost of distributive staffing associated with them) including pensions with ( if he chooses to work) all further income taxed at an escalating rate. I dont necessarily agree with it but it aint necessarily idiotic , nor is £8 necessarily so subject to disincentive impact assessment.

[sickofthelies]

At first I was pretty surprised at the Green's idea of raising the minimum wage to £8. Initially, at face value it sounded like economic madness and a mad PR stunt to get poorer voters into the Green camp.
However, viewing the actual cost of goods in the shops, petrol and other amenities, it may not be such a bad rate to ask for. Let's face it, chances are that inflation is going to keep steadily rising as the pound in our pocket is worth less and less than the previous month.

Maybe one way to get the Employers on-side would be to reduce the actual costs that are involved in hiring an employee in the first place, and disposing of a lot of the red tape.

[TannyD]

At first I was pretty surprised at the Green's idea of raising the minimum wage to £8. Initially, at face value it sounded like economic madness and a mad PR stunt to get poorer voters into the Green camp.
However, viewing the actual cost of goods in the shops, petrol and other amenities, it may not be such a bad rate to ask for. Let's face it, chances are that inflation is going to keep steadily rising as the pound in our pocket is worth less and less than the previous month.

Maybe one way to get the Employers on-side would be to reduce the actual costs that are involved in hiring an employee in the first place, and disposing of a lot of the red tape.

Yes, I hear what you saying that but employers don't have to pay everyone that works for them especially if they haven't got a contract and are working to get "work experience".
If you was an employer would you want to make more profit buy giving jobs to "work experience" people or pay someone £8 an hour?

[sickofthelies]

Yes, I hear what you saying that but employers don't have to pay everyone that works for them especially if they haven't got a contract and are working to get "work experience".
If you was an employer would you want to make more profit buy giving jobs to "work experience" people or pay someone £8 an hour?

I hate to say it, but you would be surprised how much of the "work experience" malarky actually goes on in this country. I personally know graduates who are in their 30's being grateful for temporary University work placements that last for a month or so. However, leaving out the example above of employers using and abusing graduates, in the main employers do have to pay a certain amount of money to take people on in the first place, even if its temporary.

Maybe there could be various incentives made for new start-up businesses, such as a refund on various costs by HMRC or something along those lines.Eight quid is just a number, although right at this minute it sounds pretty steep pay for someone who is doing a relatively easy low-skilled occupation, and I take that point. However the reality of the situation in this country is that the value of the pound in your pocket is relatively decreasing in value, as the cost of living steadily rises.

Personally, I do not see this changing anytime soon. Bare in mind that demand for oil is LOW right now, and the price has been driven up to over $120 a barrel. We really are up the creek if demand goes up, and the conflicts in the Middle East continue. I can't see demand rising substantially amongst Western nations over the next year (the US is about to be walloped full on by its $20 trillion debt burden), but Russia and India are just waiting in the wings.

[TannyD]

I hate to say it, but you would be surprised how much of the "work experience" malarky actually goes on in this country. I personally know graduates who are in their 30's being grateful for temporary University work placements that last for a month or so. However, leaving out the example above of employers using and abusing graduates, in the main employers do have to pay a certain amount of money to take people on in the first place, even if its temporary.

I hate to say this but it is the complete opposite of surprise, I am well aware of what goes on and have experienced first-hand just what some some employers prefer. I will add more when I have to time.

[Ed Burroughs]

At first I was pretty surprised at the Green's idea of raising the minimum wage to £8. Initially, at face value it sounded like economic madness and a mad PR stunt to get poorer voters into the Green camp.
However, viewing the actual cost of goods in the shops, petrol and other amenities, it may not be such a bad rate to ask for. Let's face it, chances are that inflation is going to keep steadily rising as the pound in our pocket is worth less and less than the previous month.

Maybe one way to get the Employers on-side would be to reduce the actual costs that are involved in hiring an employee in the first place, and disposing of a lot of the red tape.

The minimum wage is inflation; think about what you're saying.
Your initial thought, that it was "economic madness", was spot on.

[g hall]

High tax economy, High housing costs, large pool of relatively unskilled labour with consequent strain on state provided benefits - yep we're in the shitter

[Labourite]

The GP manifesto clearly supports a min' wage of 8 quid.
The simple laws of supply and demmand dictate that any labour deemed to be worth less than this is not taken up, thus rampant unemployment is guaranteed.

A vote for the greens is a vote for penury!

Idiots.

A high minimum wage is sometimes part and parcel of good state capitalist policy. Workers create wealth not employers. If you drive their wages further and further down, who is going to buy all the products that keep the consumerist system going? And you'll see a lot more businesses going to the wall then and a lot more unemployment. That is part of the reason Labour introduced a minimum wage and increased it so much in the early years. It was good for UK PLC.

[Liberty.Philosopher]

There is another solution for those who wish to earn eight pounds an hour or more. Put yourself in a position where you can command a higher wage, because the demand for your labour warrants this. This would involve making use of educational resources to acquire skills and credentials that are needed in the economy. Why stop at eight pounds. The skies the limit