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The thing about the minimum wage
It reduces pay inequality while employment does not suffer – even if productivity is not boosted.
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The number of minimum wage jobs in Britain has been growing, from less than half a million in 2000 to well over 1.5 million by 2019.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Sarah O’Connor
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As policy ideas go, the minimum wage has had a great run of it. Productivity might have been disappointing after the financial crisis, average pay growth might have been weak, but the minimum wage was one policy tool that seemed to help people at the bottom of the ladder.
When Germany introduced a minimum wage in 2015, it reduced wage inequality without hurting people’s employment prospects.
