The Trades Union Congress [TUC] has urged ministers to raise the minimum wage for workers of all ages to £15 per hour.
Currently, the minimum wage is £9.50 per hour for over-23s, while for those who are 21 and 22 the minimum is set at £9.18 per hour. Workers aged between 18 and 20 are paid even less, earning £6.83 per hour.
With inflation having reached 10.1 per cent amid the current cost-of-living crisis, the TUC has called on the government to hike the minimum wage and make it equal for all “as soon as possible”.
“Every worker should be able to afford a decent standard of living. But millions of low-paid workers live wage packet to wage packet, struggling to get by - and they are now being pushed to the brink by eye-watering bills and soaring prices,” said Frances O’Grady, the TUC secretary general.
Challenging the status quo of paying younger workers less, O’Grady added: “It's clear to me, and I think to many people, that people ought to be paid the rate for the job, regardless of the age they are. If they're working as hard doing the same job, why should they be discriminated against simply because they're under 23?”
The government has said that it remains “determined to make work pay” and had announced the largest ever increase in the national minimum wage in April.
However, wage increases have not kept pace with rampant inflation, which is being buoyed by rising prices for energy, fuel and food.
Yet, ministers are reluctant to increase the minimum wage further at this stage, amid concerns that it could exacerbate unemployment and fuel further inflation if raised by too much, too quickly.
Warning that a further hike in the minimum wage simply could not wait until the next scheduled update in April 2023, O’Grady said: “We've had promises from the government time after time, that we should have a high wage economy.
“It should start with low-paid workers who are absolutely terrified about what those hikes in energy bills will mean for their budgets, having to fork out for school uniforms and put food on the table.”
O’Grady also highlighted the fact that businesses are paying higher dividends to shareholders and argued for workers to receive their “fair share”, so that they did not need to turn to the welfare system for top-up benefits and could have more spending power to stimulate the economy.
But the Confederation of British Industry’s [CBI] skills and inclusion director, Matthew Percival, warned that a simple upping of the minimum wage was likely to have a detrimental effect on employers.
Percival said: “Firms are increasing wages where they can, but energy price rises are pushing some to the brink.
“High energy prices require urgent government action to support households and businesses, not relying on the minimum wage alone.”
Percival suggested that the next minimum wage rise should not be set at a target amount and instead be determined by the performance of the economy, guided by growth and higher productivity.
There is a government target for the minimum wage in the UK to reach 66 per cent of the national median wage by 2024, although the TUC says that minimum wage workers should be getting 75 per cent of a £20 median.
