Pay hike on the cards as Oliver Bonas becomes first UK high street chain to pay living wage August 31, 2015 Gifts and homeware retailer Oliver Bonas has provided a major boost to the high street after committing to paying its staff the living wage. The chain, which has 43 UK stores as well as a warehouse and head office in Chessington, announced it will start paying all directly-employed staff and third party contractors at [...]
National Living Wage will “destroy jobs”, says ex-Sainsbury’s boss Justin King August 29, 2015 Justin King, former chief executive of Sainsbury's, has described the National Living Wage as “ludicrous”, and claims it will “destroy jobs”. Read more: July Budget 2015: Will George Osborne’s new national living wage hit the number of people in work? During a discussion on BBC Radio 4's The New Workplace, due to be aired at [...]
Ikea creating a happy home for workers too as firm embraces living wage July 28, 2015 One of the crucial aspects of the chancellor’s Budget was the commitment to raise the living wage for over 25s to £9 per hour by the year 2020, a rise from the current rate of £7.20. Our immediate post-Budget research showed the policy to be very popular – across supporters of all of the [...]
London rental prices: Renters on living wage priced out of every postcode in the capital July 27, 2015 Exorbitant room rents are pricing low-paid workers out of all parts of London, as new data shows that there is no longer a single postcode in the capital where you can afford to live on the London living wage. On average, renters earning a living wage put more than half of their salary, 56 per [...]
Ikea promises to adopt the living wage for its 9,000 UK employees July 19, 2015 Home furnishing giant Ikea yesterday pledged to adopt the living wage from 1 April next year – a move that will affect more than half its 9,000 UK staff. Describing the pay increase as “part of a holistic transformation of basic co-worker conditions”, Ikea said UK employees will receive a minimum of £7.85 per hour [...]
JD Wetherspoon share price drops as founder Tim Martin attacks living wage July 15, 2015 Tim Martin, founder and chairman of 900-strong pub group JD Wetherspoon, has hit out at chancellor George Osborne’s living wage policy, claiming it could have an adverse impact on pubs. Martin warned: “The recent government announcement regarding the living wage adds considerable uncertainty to future financial projections in the pub industry.” He said: [...]
This is what you get with a Conservative majority: A national living wage July 15, 2015 Why do we care about the economic recovery? Sometimes economists seem to forget, that we care about recovery not for some statistics on a chart, but because recovery creates more jobs giving people the dignity of work, and pay rises for those in work. In short, the purpose of economic recovery is to make people [...]
City plays down living wage cost fears but hospitality industry could struggle July 9, 2015 Analysts predicted yesterday that UK retailers would largely dodge the effects of the new national living wage but warned the leisure and hospitality industry would face tough times. In a surprise move on Wednesday George Osborne announced a new minimum wage of £7.20 per hour from April next year for workers over the age of [...]
July Budget 2015: Living wage bill hurts retailers and small firms July 8, 2015 Retail and hospitality industry insiders warned yesterday that their sectors face a huge rise in labour costs after a Tory pledge to introduce a minimum wage of £9 for over-25s by 2020. From April next year, businesses will be required to pay £7.20 per hour to workers over the age of 25, rising to [...]
July Budget 2015: Will George Osborne’s new national living wage hit the number of people in work? July 8, 2015 Sam Bowman, deputy director of the Adam Smith Institute, says Yes. There is lots of research into what the minimum wage does to jobs. Of the 103 papers reviewed by economists David Neumark and William Wascher in a 2006 study, most of them showed that raising the minimum wage reduces long-term employment. Of the 33 [...]