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A GOVERNMENT MINISTER has given strong indications that the national minimum wage is likely to be increased as soon as next year as he seeks members for the new Low Pay Commission.
Ged Nash, the Minister for Business and Employment, today sought expressions of interest for the nine-member panel being set up to examine the current national minimum wage of €8.65 and whether it should be increased.
Speaking today, Nash said he wants to see the minimum wage increased “progressively” in the coming years as the economy improves and said there is an “inevitability” about pay increase demands as the economy improves.
“I want to see the rate of the national minimum wage progressively increased over a period of time. But I will say this, it should increased only in circumstances where circumstances allow,” Nash told reporters today.
DJEI / TwitterMin Nash calls for applications for 9 member low pay commission to will examine issues & make recommendations to govt pic.twitter.com/UyQ2BWoAjG
— Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment (@DeptEnterprise) December 15, 2014
He said that the current rate of €8.65, which was reduced to €7.65 by the previous government before being restored by the current administration, has not been properly reviewed since 2007.
The new Low Pay Commission will consist of an independent chairperson, three people with experience of working with low-paid workers, three people with experience of employers’ interests and two members with experience of labour market economics and employment law.
The chair will be paid €20,000 while the members will each earn €11,500 with the commission receiving an overall budget of €500,000.
Ged Nash spoke to TheJournal.ie about the Low Pay Commission back in September:
Nash said he envisages the commission meeting for the first time in February and having its first publicly available report for him by the early spring. He anticipates that its recommendations will be implemented “very soon after that”.
The Louth TD said that while he could “theoretically, hypothetically” ignore the commission’s recommendations but said this would be unlikely as it would provide an “evidence-based approach” using ”a robust set of data sets”.
Martin Shanaghar, assistant secretary in the Department of Jobs, insisted that the UK Low Pay Commission, which has operated for over a decade, has been examined very closely and said its success is based on government usually implementing its recommendations.
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Don’t increase minimum wage…. Cut the USC !
And scambridge. You can’t claim to increase the MW while there’s still people working full time for less than a grand a month.
A living wage is 11.45 this should be the new minimum
Yeah lets raise it to that and watch any competitiveness we gained during the recession be eroded. Good man
“Yeah lets raise it to that and watch any competitiveness we gained during the recession be eroded”
Micheal, We’ll allow you to stay working @ 8.65 if thats what you want, or are earning above that and just want more people poorer than you? Good Man
As a recent grad earning it, it’s nothing short of madness! Covers rent, minimal food and transport to said job! Still have to pay tax on such a measly amount. Basically working 40 hours for 120 more than the dole!
It’s still better than the dole man, at least you’re contributing and paying your way. You can have some respect for yourself.
Michael people could take less profits.
I would like to see a table of how, even during the recession, the profit margins have grown substantially and the well,off got tax relief added to their burden! Outrageous.
Also compare manager salaries, bonus (?) and expenses given.
Put all the true figures SIDE BY SIDE, a substantial increase for the minimum wage would not be the issue putting competiveness on the line here.
Note, if a minimum wage is hard to live by then try pensions, no, not the daily fare to work but we have the rest. To reach rural transport is an expensive taxi ride.
So, why not make pensions the minimum wage at least, we pay bills, we pay much, much more for any transport too. To visit husband in hospital cost 54 euros, and when he goes to Cork, it will be once a fortnight and nightmare.
It’s great to see they’re looking at it, they’re admitting there’s a problem. I hope they also examine zero hour contracts and other uncertainties faced by low paid workers.
You’d never guess there was an election in the not too distant future.
So, let’s not look at raising pay then? Let’s just leave people on this low wage. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.
I never said not to look at it. Just convienent timing wouldn’t you think?
Well it’s not something that it has just happened. I seem to remember the suggestion of establishing a low pay commission some time ago, earlier this year anyway.
TheHassetthoff so true labour tds out everywhere with all populist sound bite trying to save there own arses ,, they caught us ones with their pre-election claptrap they wont get away with it again
Zero hours contracts also being looked at – same Minister is overseeing a study into their prevalence in the economy.
Scrap usc not increase minnium wage.
YES ZERO HOURS IS NONSENSE, IF ANY HOURS ARE WORKED THEN IT IS NOT ZERO.
Government loopholes just increase and workers get no rights at all. I wonder what the EU regs say..
Another load of fat cats there alright but they do feel the need to pay a little lip service, here and there, in between constant meetings for salary and expense rises for themselves.
cough….QUANGO…….cough
There’s no need for this ‘commission’, just hire the bloody thing.
Boosting the minimum wage puts money straight back into the domestic economy, which has been on the floor for the past 6 years. It one of the most efficient and reliable ways of boosting local business as well.
I see no problem with evidence based policy making. If the Minister made the decision by himself without consulting anyone you would complain:
a) that he was just trying to buy the election
b) that the proposed increase (whatever it was) was too low and an insult to working people.
SHOUT IT LOUDLY for they never seem to hear anything approaching common sense or the plain truth.
Why bother increasing it, you will just take it back through taxation.
So nobody with experience of living on minimum wage on the commission?
Nothing saying you cant apply to it Dave. http://www.stateboards.ie, you can apply to it there!
As the outcome would directly affect me I wouldn’t put myself forward. It would compromise the integrity of the commission
It’s a much better idea to try to lower costs. Raising the minimum wage will just cause prices to increase, so people are no better off.
If we could lower the cost of rent, mortgages, childcare, health and transport everyone would have a lot more money in their pockets.
Another deflection tactic to save them from dealing with real issues
Increasing the minimum wage will in my opinion stop many many SMEs from hiring that extra member or two of staff. And as SMEs are the largest employers by numbers that will be detrimental. We already have one of the highest minimum wages in the EU so will just add to becoming less competitive
What about those SMEs who will have to hire staff to cope with the extra demand for goods and services from minimum wage workers who have a extra few euro every week to spend?
This is non-sense from Nash; there is no need for a commission on the minimum wage. Inflation and the other rising costs, rent above all else, would justify an immediate increase and the focus should be on raising it very quickly to a ‘living wage’ level ca. EUR 11 per hour.
It should be pointed about that the term ‘minimum wage’ is a complete misnomer. A more accurate term should be the ‘poverty wage’ as it meets the agreed definition of deprivation which is two thirds of the median wage.
Sorry Ciaran but you are only looking at this as a demand side response, yes an increase in the minimum wage may lead to increased spending but the idea that business will start hiring because of this is not necessarily true.
In this case people on minimum wage will most likely spend their money in places which employ other low wage earners i.e. grocery shops, supermarkets, pubs, restaurants and retail, this means these businesses will have to pay more in wages, how will they fund this increase in wages? they will fund it of course by an increase in their prices to cover the costs of the increase in wages…… overall then the increase in wages to these low earners will most likely be met by an increase in prices of the things they are most likely to buy, thus a negative supply side response to a positive demand change could cancel each other out leaving no one better off……
Then give it a few years and we will hear of yet more calls for increases in the minimum wage while all the time seeing no improvements in overall living standards.
I am just saying that an increase in demand can be a good and a bad thing, how the supply side reacts is also very important to consider.
There are no negatives to a dramatic rise in the minimum wage. Just like there were no negatives to many of the other advances won by workers over the decades, such as the 8 hour day, paid holidays, maternity leave, lunch breaks, etc. I find it astonishing that almost no-one acknowledges that the minimum wage now, today, is a poverty wage; it’s not enough to sustain a decent standard of living.
Increases in the minimum wage to at least living wage level, coupled with a ban on zero-hour contracts and other progressive measures like rent caps would make a huge difference to hundreds of thousands of workers. There are no negatives to a huge rise in the minimum wage. None.
Ciaran, I think you’re missing the point. Raising the minimum wage usually causes a rise in prices to match that. So those on minimum wage are no better off than they were before, and those on higher wages are less well off because the cost of living has increased.
The best way to increase living standards for those on minimum wages is to lower the cost of living. An attempt to lower rents, house prices, healthcare, childcare, etc., will all benefit. Raising the minimum wage just causes inflation.
Put the pensioners on this mean money! We have same costs minimum and no rural allowances.
Check profit margins, they have zoomed up, and even tax help from those nice TDs who consider the rich and insult the poor.
@werejammin not exactly because an increase in minimum wage will stop those small local businesses from being able to hire extra staff. Keeping more people on the dole resulting in even less money being spent in the economy
The small businesses in rural South keep closing, look at rents, insurance and then the price of goods, the workers live in abject poverty.
The big firms stay afloat evermore and whilst we are saddened for all our boarded up buildings, we do blame greedy landlords, the avaricious insurance and government costs to keep towns not us afloat.
We know big firms price them out but they give us goods we can afford for so many are poor and also have no transport to towns, they employ many, no jobs are lost, many are gained substantially and keep other services afloat as there is money spent locally.
Examples, doctor, pharmacy, some super values/central in villages, garages, post office, hairdresser for some, pub with hall for their weddings etc.. In some places, not much and little in the way of entertainment then but something if some can get to village.
Nash Bridges the minimum wage …
Just increase the dole who wants a job
Looking at rent costs would be a better idea. Tiny bedsits that only allow single people in Dublin at the moment are costing around 700 a month, not forgetting about small apartments suitable for two which are much higher in price… How am I physically supposed to afford that on minimum wage, let alone trying find somewhere with my minimum wage earning partner? I work hard and that’s another story but every person who works full time should at least be able to afford a place to live. Instead I’m stuck at home with parents struggling to save for a 700 euro deposit + first months rent in the first place? Something wrong with this country
Am I the only one who feels we being primed ready for an election with the seemingly “good news” we are been fed with recently
No, Charles but they do it every year, then keep feeding bits of awfulness before and after it for months.
The bit of good new turns out badly always, they claw the raises back and more, somehow most of us are usually worse off. I dread it all quite frankly.
I want the day of it on the news back, at least there is a chance to get a good look,at a piece of it.
The analysis is pathetic, for a single person, for a couple with two children……,..
Put on how it is is for pensioners, how it is for disabled, how it is for those single mothers that could not get their abortion as the waiting lists were too long. (Then moan about them being on welfare, child poverty etc) let us talk about the minimum wage, the grads etc.
.. Note though, we have the same bills so do not rattle on with the old philanthropy about the deserving and the undeserving poor. There is no undeserving tax bills and then another for the deserving. There are just more and more, nothing in return, and more worry about juggling finances so that what to give up next is the result of the budget.
Considering the dole works out at 4:70 per hour for 40 hours it’s only fair workers should be paid a bit more than 8:65
Since the crash of 08 I have seen a part of the industry I used to work in slash the wage by nearly 50%,One such company that does the transport & logistics for a very well known British supermarket chain.
Pay their drivers the min wage or slightly above it,As for zero hour contracts I have done that for 4 year’s it is not a nice place to be in waiting on phone calls.
And when they do call it’s either late at night or very early in the morning (4-5am ) and they expect you to be there within an hour,Other times they would have me start at 5 am and I would be finished by 9 am, That’s 4 hours work some times not even worth driving into work when you factor in tolls/petrol etc.
The majority of companies use agencies to do the dirty work regarding hiring employees,The majority of agency workers get a flat rate of pay regardless if you go over the 8 hours work nights weekends etc.
Some even try not to pay people for bank holidays,All I can say is thank f**k I don’t work for these companies anymore.
@Ciaran in an ideal world this would happen yes. And of course if I believed this would happen then I’d be all for an increase. But realistically if an SME has to pay more wages then the price of goods will go up for everyone. All the way back along the chain from manufacturer to wholesaler to logistics company, they will all have to pay higher wages so it’s inevitable the cost and price of goods will increase. So any increase that a worker may see will be eaten up by an increase in prices. In fact they will/may be worse off if prices increase more than their pay increase
again I say it, cut the USC and there is no need to increase the minimum wage
we heard you the first time
We? Damien, who do you speak for?
Everyone!
Bring in an extra allowance for those that live and work in Dublin.
Try rural living, see expense there.
I was told I chose to live in the country, I say the same to those in the town, but I think it is fine to choose your own place.
I wish I could move, I love the country but NEED town services and am lonely. There is no chance so… I just ask as you do for money to live, pensioners worked for a lot of years, and give us one of your buses for you gave so many they seem to be always crashing into one another in Dublin!
Just under e12000 for 15 days work?
That is not the Low Pay Commission….its the high pay commission!!!
Wonder would they be looking at it .. If they were on minimum wages ..
and will the lucky few chosen to be on this ‘new’ committee (quango) be paid the minimum wage? not a cat in hells chance they will !
Is it not a bit mad that a Super Junior Minister has the ability to arbitrarily decide the pay level of a large number of people in the private sector? Surely this is something that should be agreed on between individual workers and employers?
have your say