dingodan
New member
- Feb 16, 2011
- 10,080
In so far that an older person would not be able to legally offer his services for £4 an hour even if he was prepared to work for that I suppose it is unfair. Maybe a fairer system would be if it wasn't tiered and there was a level playing field but I think the lower rate is there to give the employer who might struggle to pay the full rate an alternative option.
If it wasn't tiered I would assume the level playing field would be put at the top rather than the bottom, i.e. a flat minimum wage of 7,8,9GBP per hour, rather than 4.
The whole point of the minimum wage is to help the poor, the idea being that what happens is you raise the minimum living standards in society, because - nobody is paid less than that minimum wage. But what actually happens is that nobody in employment is paid less than the minimum. But some will not be in employment who otherwise would be. The idea is that the guy who was being paid 4GBP per hour, will now get 7,8,9GBP per hour, and as such will experience a raise in thier living standards. But in many cases the guy who was (or would be) paid 4GBP an hour is now not unable to get a job.
So we do end up with a decent wage and standard of living for people in employment. But as an unintended consequence we also end up with greater unemployment, and those who suffer the consequences of that higher level of unemployment, those people who cannot get a job, they are the very people the minimum wage was supposed to protect and help.