Quote:
Originally Posted by MTVN
The treasury estimates that the impact on jobs will be quite negligible and be far outweighed by the number of new ones that will be created in the coming years as the economy grows and the Tories pursue other business friendly policies like the cut in corporation tax. It's a difficult balance he's trying to achieve by implementing this 'living wage' (I agree that terminology is a bit flawed) while also trying to boost further their pro-business credentials. I don't imagine large firms will have too big a problem with it but small companies will. It is worth remembering though that everyone said the minimum wage would be too hard to implement and increase unemployment (the Tories themselves were saying that actually) and that never really came about in the end.
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The company I work for now has a policy of closing any branch that fails to break even. They don't need to make much profit so long as the profits they do make are enough to justify that branch being open.
This increase will, 100%, render several branches that I know of "unprofitable" and at risk. Staffing levels are already minimal, the wage increase will put them into the red. I know this for a fact. I know what their profit margins and current staffing costs are. People will lose their jobs. Will new jobs be created? Maybe, maybe not. If they're of the quality of the "new jobs" created in the last few years then it's just more smile and mirrors.
All independent assessments of the budget I've seen conclude the obvious truth: this budget hits low wage working families hardest. Not just a little, but devastatingly. They've tried to cover this up by pretending that there's some huge hike for low wage workers but it's a deliberate and cynical illusion.