Minimum wage should rise to £6.10, says TUC

2 December 2008

The TUC has said that the Low Pay Commission should increase the hourly rate of the minimum wage to £6.10 as from next October.

The current adult rate is £5.73 per hour.

The TUC also wants to see the adult rate payable to employees aged 21 and not 22 as it is at present.

Brendan Barber, the TUC’s general secretary, said: “The minimum wage has never had any detrimental effect on the UK economy. In the current downturn there is a danger that the LPC might be too cautious in setting the new NMW rate.

“Everyone agrees that setting it at too high a rate would cost jobs, but people rarely consider the same is true of too low a rate. A low minimum wage would not only leave low paid workers - predominantly women - in poverty unnecessarily but would also leave them with less money to spend. This would leave consumer spending around £250 million below where it should be.”

However, John Cridland, the CBI’s deputy director-general, said that rises in the minimum wage make it more expensive to employ people.

Mr Cridland continued: “Doing this while unemployment is rising could have negative consequences for all concerned. We need to be very careful in the current climate to ensure that well-meaning calls for substantial rises in the minimum wage do not lead to increases in unemployment.”