Perspectives
The policy was opposed by the Conservative party at the time of implementation, who argued that it would create extra costs for businesses and would cause unemployment. The Conservative party's current leader, David Cameron, said at the time that the minimum wage "would send unemployment straight back up". However, in 2005 Cameron stated that "I think the minimum wage has been a success, yes. It turned out much better than many people expected, including the CBI." It is now Conservative Party policy to support the minimum wage.
The current Mayor of London Boris Johnson, a Conservative, has supported the London Living wage since coming to office, ensuring that all city hall employees and subcontracted workers earn at least £7.60 an hour and promoting the wage to employers across the city. In May 2009 his Greater London Authority Economics unit raised the London Living Wage for City Hall employees to its current rate of £7.60, £1.80 more than the then minimum wage of £5.80.
To put the pay in an annual perspective, an adult over the age of 22 working at the minimum wage for 7.5 hours a day, 5 days a week, will make £942.50/month and £11,310/year Gross Income. After PAYE this becomes £810.63/month or £9,727.55/year (2009/2010) Full-time workers are also entitled to a minimum of 5.6 weeks paid holiday per year from 1 April 2009, with pro-rata equivalent for part-time workers. This includes public holidays.
Dominic Raab called for the National Minimum Wage to be scrapped for 16-21 year olds in order to boost youth employment, though doubts were raised as to whether or not this would be an effective measure.
Read more about this topic: National Minimum Wage Act 1998