The toxic politicising of the National Minimum Wage

William Brown

doi:10.1108/er-04-2017-0072

Abstract

PurposeAfter 15 years of successful operation, the British Low Pay Commission’s management of the National Minimum Wage was threatened in 2015 by the government’s introduction the National Living Wage. The purpose of this paper is to consider the underlying principles of previous minimum wage fixing, and the additional thinking of the Living Wage Foundation and the review of the issue by the Resolution Foundation.Design/methodology/approachThe paper draws on the 2016 reports of the Commission to argue that the two statutory wages are unavoidably interlinked and are tied to incompatible criteria.FindingsThe paper concludes that the predicted eventual impact of the National Living Wage on the labour market will be unsustainable.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper is relevant to minimum wage research.Practical implicationsThe paper is relevant to minimum wage policy.Social implicationsThe paper is relevant to low pay policy.Originality/valueThe paper provides original analysis of minimum wage policy.

Highlights

After 15 years of successful operation, the British Low Pay Commission’s management of the National Minimum Wage was threatened in 2015 by the government’s introduction the National Living Wage
The threat became real when, later that year, Conservative Chancellor Osborne announced the level at which a new minimum wage for those aged 25 and over, which he called a National Living Wage (NLW), would be introduced from April 2016
The first was produced in March 2016 (Low Pay Commission, 2016a)

Summary

Introduction

After 15 years of successful operation, the British Low Pay Commission’s management of the National Minimum Wage was threatened in 2015 by the government’s introduction the National Living Wage. The threat became real when, later that year, Conservative Chancellor Osborne announced the level at which a new minimum wage for those aged 25 and over, which he called a National Living Wage (NLW), would be introduced from April 2016.

Objectives

Results

Conclusion