Retailers expected to raise prices or cut jobs to pay for minimum wage | Business | The Guardian
http://www.theguardian.com/business/201 ... nimum-wage

Bollocks. They've already been tinkering with recruitment because the discounters have stolen their lunch. Too late to complain about anything when you've been caning it for decades and ripping off your suppliers. The notion that this is some sort of definable tipping point is laughable.

There were big claims of mass redundancies and price rises over here when the minimum wages were introduced about 5 years ago, the problem wasn't as big as people feared.

Indeed. There is usually some grumbling whenever the minimum wage goes up from employers but they just get on with it. Having said that, the increase isn't normally 10+%.

Employers have been relying on the state to top up rubbish wages for some time.
However irritating I may find it to agree with something the Tories are doing in this instance transferring the cost of decent wages from the state to employers is the right move.

One of those TED talks I watched (linked to from here I think) was talking about somewhere in the US (might have been Seattle) implementing a $10 minimum wage and the howls of protest that caused but the net effect was greater demand for goods and services and hence higher employment because more people had more money to spend.

HA! What makes you think they're doing that? There's a schedule for corporation taxes to go down as there 'National Living Wage' goes up. We're still going to be subsidising corporations, it's just they're doing it via a tax break rather than direct payment so it's less obvious. Brace yourself for more public service cuts due to lower tax revenues along the way...


There are always howls of protest whenever the government implements anything that might even possibly affect corporate profits, even if the thing it's doing would massively benefit millions of it's population and in the process free up more cash in the economy for people to buy the goods and services those corporations sell. The problem with being 'business friendly' is that, at least in the case of big business, it's the kind of needy selfish [LIFTED] of a friend who is always borrowing money off you and never gives it back, always turns up late or not at all to things it's invited to yet throws an absolute fit should you not be available the moment it requires your presence.