2 Million Brits Get a Raise as Minimum Wage Jumps to $13 an Hour
upstart writes:
2 million Brits get a raise as minimum wage jumps to $13 an hour:
London (CNN Business) Up to 2 million UK workers will be getting bigger paychecks starting in April following a hike to the minimum wage.
The minimum hourly wage for people over the age of 23 will increase by 6.6% to 9.50 ($13), the government said ahead of its budget announcement on Wednesday.
The increase to the National Living Wage is more than twice the current inflation rate of 3.1%. But it has been criticized as inadequate because inflation is expected to race higher in the coming months and the government is slashing benefits for some low earners while hiking taxes on workers.
Lower income households also spend a higher proportion of their income on energy bills, and they could come under further pressure as energy prices spike.
[...] The government has recently increased the minimum wage by more than inflation, [Nye] Cominetti said. But he cautioned that the April hike "would in fact be a smaller real rise than some recent years, given that inflation is likely to be over 4% by April 2022."
Some economists are expecting prices to surge even higher. Huw Pill, the Bank of England's top economist, told the Financial Times last week that he "would not be shocked" to see inflation top 5% early next year.
Higher wages also won't fully compensate for government cuts to a benefit claimed by lower earners called Universal Credit. The benefit was hiked during the pandemic, but is now being reduced by 20 ($27.50) a week.
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