Minimum Wages

I’m shocked to read that The National Minimum Wage (NMW) was only introduced in 1999!! in the U.K and that there is a number of employers are being penalised for still not complying with the legislation every year.

The current standard rate of the NMW is £5.05 per hour. The current rate for employees between 18 and 21 years old is £4.25 per hour,
16 and 17 year olds must be paid a legal minimum wage which is £3 per hour (I still can’t believe this is true). Workers of 22 years and over can be paid the minimum of £ 4.25 per hour for the first six months of a new job for a new employer if they are receiving training courses where the training in institutions receiving government support. In addition, there is a fair piece rate which means that employers must pay their output workers the minimum wage for every hour they work based on an hourly rate derived from the time it takes a worker working at average speed to produce the work in question. This is shocking. How do people on a minimum wage of £5,05 per hour survive in a city like London?

The amount of cash one has, is (apparently) directly related to health and lifeexpectations. According to some researches, people on low wages suffer more illnesses and die sooner than those in the professions. Some statistics show that low paid workers in the E.U can expect to die on average 9.5 years younger than professional workers. This gap has increased by 5 years in the last few decades.

It is sad to read the arguments from these so called "Captains of Industry". They are the first to defend the privileges of board members such as to fat-cat salaries, bonuses and excessive pension arrangments. In the same time, they're the first to attack policies that are put in place to defend the rights of those who bring in the cash for those fat cats.