January 1, 2020

Anna Murray 

Britain is going to increase the minimum salary from April, 2020 to benefit almost 3 billion workers. The rise of the wage is four times the rate of inflation.

This is the immediate announcement after the victory election of Boris Johnson to prove the commitment for the workers in Britain. In the beginning of April, the hourly pay will increase from £8.21 an hour to £8.72.

Prime Minister, Boris John, stated that workers deserved to receive the increase of salary and they were waiting too long to receive this. 

For workers over 25 years old, their annual pay will increase 6.2% from April. Workers below 25-yeard-old will also receive the boost. 

However, this rise of the minimum salary has different feedbacks from different fields. British Chamber of Commerce indicated that under the economy uncertainty phase, the huge amount of boost will cause problems for business development. The Trade Union Congress’s general secretary, Frances O’Grady, stated that the increase of minimum salary did not solve the problem of in-work poverty. Workers still struggle to balance their daily expenses. 

Director of Living Wage Foundation, Katherine Chapman, criticized that the fair minimum hourly pay should increase up to £9.30 – or £10.75 in London. Currently, there is still a gap between the government’s and the job market’s minimum salary.

 
Nye Cominetti, an economic analyst at the Resolution Foundation think tank, was glad to see the increase of the minimum salary. At the same time, he also gave the warning to have the risk in the terms of inflation to boost the minimum salary.  

Photo:Webshot.