From January 2018 the minimum wage is set to increase to €9.55.
The minimum wage is currently €9.25, and when it increases full-time workers will have an extra €12 each week.
This is the fourth time the minimum wage has increased since 2011, in an effort to meet the Programme for Government commitment of establishing €10.50 as the National Miniumum Wage.
According to the CSO, around 10.1% of workers currently earn the minimum wage or less.
However, two weeks ago Ireland’s living wage increased to €11.70 (according to The Living Wage Technical Group).
The living wage is based on the concept that work should provide an adequate income to enable individuals to afford a socially acceptable standard of living.
Workers’ union Unite have welcomed the increase, yet are still disappointed that it falls €2 short of the living wage.
Commenting, Unite Regional Secretary Jimmy Kelly pointed out that yesterday’s modest increase follows what he described as the ‘derisory’ increase of 10 cents last year.
“Unite has consistently argued that what is needed is a medium-term strategy to bring the Minimum Wage to the Living Wage. In that context, today’s modest increase only slightly narrows the gap with the Living Wage of €11.70, which has been independently calculated as what is needed to provide a minimum acceptable standard of living.
“Poverty pay is endemic in Ireland: we have one of the highest incidences of low pay in the industrialised economies.
“Low pay is not only bad for workers and their communities – it is also bad for business, resulting in higher staff turnover with the associated costs, reduced productive and low staff morale.
“While today’s modest increase is welcome, it follows on last year’s derisory 10 cent increase and still leaves the Minimum Wage over €2 short of the Living Wage.
“What is needed in the medium term is not only a strategy to align the Minimum Wage with the Living Wage, but also a strategy to bring down costs such as rent, which in Dublin accounts for over 40 per cent of the Living Wage”, Jimmy Kelly said.
Moreover, Worker’s Rights Senator Ged Nash has apprehensively welcomed the increase, yet maintains that the government “is making extremely hard work of their pledge” to increase the minimum wage to €10.50 per hour.
Senator Nash said; “While modest, the Low Pay Commission’s recommendation to increase the rate by 30 cent an hour to €9.55 is a welcome but very small step in the right direction.
“Frankly, this government has a lot to be modest about when it comes to delivering on its own promise that work should pay.
“With a miserly 10 cent increase last year and a modest 30 cent recommended for next year, the Fine Gael-Independent Alliance government is making extremely heavy weather of their pledge to hike the minimum wage rate to €10.50 per hour.
“Even when combined, the two increases over which they have presided still falls short of the 50 cent increase we managed in a single year and on foot of the first Low Pay Commission report which was published this time two years ago.
“According to the CSO, there are around 130,000 workers on the national minimum wage. If the government is serious about reaching its own published target, then they need to work closely with the Low Pay Commission to develop a road map to €10.50 which in itself is €1.20 short of a Living Wage which now stands at €11.70 per hour.”
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