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I am fortunate I don't have to live on £3.60 ph. It's poverty wages. I would not like to live on it.
B Newton, England

For reference, that works out to roughly US$5.88 - more that the US minimum wage. Whilst I realise that other economic differences make direct comparison rather useless, I find it fun. I have lived with an income on the border of the US minimum wage, and while it did become difficult for a month or so, I never failed to make ends meet. I do believe that a minimum wage is necessary to protect individuals, but I am very wary of the negative economic effects of an artificially high wage scale.
Steven Knox, USA

There is less and less unskilled work, but the number of unskilled workers chasing it doesn't decline. This is the really serious problem. If the minimum wage is set too high, then some of those jobs will go overseas, and others will be replaced by mechanisation, resulting in higher unemployment for unskilled workers.
If we are worried about people earning too little to live on (and we should be), then "we the taxpayers" should foot the bill to improve benefits, by paying higher taxes. Compassion is cheap when you are calling for someone else to pay for the poor. If we try to get business to pay for our welfare system, they won't. If we want to reduce poverty we can raise taxes; and we should.
George Kendall, UK

The cost of living is double that of Australia. The casual rate for the hospitality industry here is approx £6 ph.
R Mathew, Australia

The entire concept is ill thought out, dated and flawed. The "exploitation" of workers is a rarity in this country. Employers recognise the need to employ staff that can deliver quality to their customers whatever the industry they're in. In order to attract such staff they will pay the market rate.
In setting a minimum wage the government is ignoring market forces. Traditionally low paying industries will become significantly less viable with unemployment the natural result. As has been well-documented, staff further up the pay scale will demand that pay differentials are maintained. Employment costs will increase significantly in all industries. The net result of this is always an increase in unemployment.
Different parts of the country will be affected differently. Of greatest concern are those regions where average wages and the cost of living is lowest e.g. Cornwall. £3.60 might not be a bad wage in Cornwall, but its imposition on local businesses could devastate the local economy.
Ian Pratt, UK

Who could live in the south east of England on £3.60/hr?
George Row, UK

How many people on low earnings can afford a computer or access to the internet to comment on this issue?
Peter, United Kingdom

Being an expatriate, I am familiar with both sides of the coin as the USA also has a minimum wage. But I cannot understand how the British government can give the people of our great nation such a low minimum wage. The cost of petrol is so high, not to mention licences for TVs and radios, etc. How can the English people who are currently unemployed and struggling to make ends meet have any desire to go to work to better themselves and their families?
The proposed minimum wage in Britain is approximately equal to the minimum wage in the USA. Some people living on the minimum wage find themselves engaging in illegal activities just to make ends meet. Is this what we want to teach our children? If we don't nip it in the bud now and pay the people what they are worth, crime will become a way of life for generations to come.
Mark O'Brien, US but formerly Britain

Too many people are living on the bread line. The more the minimum wage the more money they will earn.
D Goldburn, England

It is misleading and dishonest to talk about a minimum wage. We ought to talk about a minimum living wage. Taking into consideration such things as inflation, taxes, VAT, cost of living etc. Otherwise just throwing figures in the air is misleading and insulting.
Siamak Mirnezami, UK

Why don't the politicians try living on £3.60 an hour, or less, for a while, and tell us what they think? I think it is a disgrace to call ourselves a civilised society. Wages that low only encourage the exploitation of children. It's probably to maintain that situation that exclusions exist for the young.
Shame on you, Tony Blair. You have betrayed the people who have elected you and the NEW SLEAZE PARTY! People, remember that at the next elections!
Michael Pierron, UK

£170 pw says it all, is this what the people of this country are expected to live on? Stoke-on-Trent is a low paid city with I million lucky enough to be in a well paid job. But colleagues of mine have husbands who earn £150 in the pottery industry. Give workers a chance. Let the minimum wage be over £4 for everyone. Bring some self-esteem back into the economy, not line the pockets of employers.
Sean Lindop, UK

No, it's certainly not enough. Any employer struggling to pay at least this amount shouldn't be in business in the fiirst place.
Martyn Davies, Wales

The fact that the CBI says it is acceptable means it is obviously way too low.
Tony Keene, Scotland

As usual we get all the same old economic rhetoric about what's really a philosophical issue. No-one in a civilised society should have to, or be expected to work for so little. I wonder if any of the advocates for low pay have ever had to work for such a pittance. Or maybe it's because so many working for so little keeps them in their privileged positions. Along with a decent minimum wage there should also be a maximum wage - how about 1.5 times the minimum? I would suspect people's pay would increase dramatically as company directors think of how they're going to survive - or what colour their new BMW will be.
Derek Dunn, Manchester, UK

£3.60 is not enough but it is a step in the right direction but £4.00 an hour would have been much better. I bet the people that moan the most about the minimum wage are the people that earn big wages.
Nick Gardner, UK

My last job in the UK payed about sixteen pounds per hour, we owned our home outright and had cars a few years old, both working and no kids (dual income no kids yet - DINKY) and had a couple of holidays a year. Even with all that I didn't feel afluent. How can someone on something like eight times my UK pay (250k for a 'good' senior executive?) say that 3.60 an hour is adequate. As a life long Tory I voted Labour in the belief that they would give the country a good slap in the face, I'm glad I'm not there to see this first hand an face the people I hoped to help. I can't say the US is any better in this respect but I don't feel responsible here, the difference with industrialists and politicians is that they don't feel responsible in their own country, ordinary folk are simply resources to them.
Chris Hann, USA

The employers who pay low wages never employ more people than they need. A higher minimum rate would not cause unemployment or inflation, as the money would be spent on esssential items.
William Screech, England

I am afraid it's the old old story; keep Britain's working man on the poverty line. management will always shout;" higher basic pay will lead to lay offs. We cannot afford to pay anymore." If a company cannot afford to pay its workers a reasonable wage the company should not be in business. At the end of the day the tax payer has to put his hand in his pockets to top up the lower paid workers pay packet in the shape of extra grants. Why should management get away with this. They know even if they pay their workers ultra low paypackets the Government has to cough up an extra subsidy. New Labour have lied to the workers of Britain. Mr. Blair, a middle of the road tory, has lied to his people. He is not much better than the old guard;" starve the working man thatcherites.
Green, singapore

How many hours does one have to work at £3.60 /hr to make a liveable income? It must clearly be based on the minimum of a liveable wage without working overtime.
Colin Hills, Germany

Drop the VAT to 3%, then we are talking. What with petrol, food, accomodation and last but not least taxes, £3.60 is an insult to working people. This figure is deceptive, what needs to be considered is the buying power. 3.60 does not buy a great deal. We ought to talk about minimum living wage. Otherwise just throwing figures in the air is misleading and insulting.
Siamak Mirnezami, UK

Why don't the politicians try to live on £3.60 an hour or less for a while, and tell what they think? I think it is a disgrace to call ourselves a civilised society. Wages that low only encourage for the exploitation of children. It's probably to maintian that situation that exclusions exist for the young. Shame on you, Tony Blair. You have betrayed the people who have elected you and the NEW SLEAZE PARTY! People, remember that at the next elections!
Michael Pierron UK

The minimum wage should be at least £5 per hour. Anything less is an insult to human dignity.
Peter Benjamin, UK

Employers should not be subsidised by the state with the taxpayer having to top up inadequate wages with state benefits.
Bob Swann, United Kingdom

I'm an English citizen living in the US because I can't afford to work in England. My husband is American and we tried living in the UK but couldn't find work that paid enough to pay the bills and have a decent standard of living. The government is living in a fantasy world if it thinks £3.60 is enough. Maybe they should try living on that for a while. This is the kind of thing I would expect from the Tory party, not the Labour Party. It's a disgrace.
Fiona Henderson, USA

There should be lower tax bands instead of min wage.
J Maurer, UK

I think this hourly rate of 3.60 is really too low. This is unfair to those unqualified people. It should be at least 5 pounds.
Albert Cheung, China

The employers who pay low wages never employ more people than they need. A higher minimum rate would not cause unemployment or inflation, as the money would be spent on essential items.
William Screech, England

Yes, this is a step in the right direction. A minimum wage has long been overdue. Unfortunately, it cannot be too high to start with as the economy needs to adjust to the fact. It is the bad employers who will cry especially in the catering buiness where they have been getting away with murder for far too long. I think this level brings the UK approximately in line with the rest of Europe and it is also necessary to pay less to the youngsters. For under 21s again, the 3.20 rate is approximately the same as France. All in all a good move and next year the goverment can ease it upwards.
John Whitney, Russia

Having just returned from the UK, I was amazed at both the cost of living in Britain, but appalled at the tremendously LOW wages!
Brandon Hartford, USA

For years we have seen top managers get astronomical rates of pay. Only last week it was reported that bosses of the Computacenter company are sitting on £523 million of shares and options in the company. In the same week, the Chairman of Roadchef made £75 million from the sale of his company. These are the kind of people who say that a minimum wage higher than £3.60 will price people out of a job. The same rules don't seem to apply to them. Millions of us voted for Labour because we wanted real changes to reduce the gap between rich and poor. Now we feel betrayed. Tony Blair listens more to the CBI than he does to the unions - which represent millions of people who voted for him. It's a disgrace that the government thinks £100 a week for a full-time job is enough to live on. It's even worse that the rate is lower for under-21s, and there is no minimum at all for 16 and 17 year olds. Yet these are just the people likely to be on low pay. We should be calling on the government for a decent minimum wage for all workers. If it's good enough for the fat cats, it's good enough for all of us.
Colin Wilson, UK

I am 17 years old and I am on only £2.64 and I work hard for what I do. I would like to be on £3.60 an hour. I also think that it's wrong for 16-18s to be excluded.
M Braddick, Bridgwater, Somerset

Are we a civilised country? £3.60/hr suggests not. This is a ridiculus figure for the minimum wage! The fact the bosses are happy says it all, I think the minimum wage should be at least £4.00 and apply to all workers, not just those over 21. In the longer term it should be increased to a fairer figure, such as £5.00. If bosses and MPs had to work for £3.60 an hour I think the picture would be different, but they can award themselves pay rises!
Will Green, UK

Whilst I understand governments need to keep the minimum wage low, it should at least apply to all age groups. In supermarkets, for example, the young people (often students working part time) are normally much more efficient than the full time elderly staff, yet receive a lower wage. Why? Because the shops will not pay a penny more than they have to to get the staff. And if the government excludes or reduces the minimum wage for younger people, will that also not make them more attractive to employers, thus making it harder for older people to find work? Do people between the ages of 18 and 21 pay less tax? At a time when they may be considering starting a family, do they have less expenses? It is without foundation that these people be paid a lower minimum wage.
Martin Millmore, UK

As a starting point, £3.60 an hour is possibly adequate, although there should be NO exceptions. As an end in itself, it's totally insufficient. I don't believe our national solvency can be threatened by treating working people in a minimally decent manner, and even if that were not so, it would be a poor commentary on the state of a supposedly civilised country, to admit that its economic survival depends on what amounts to wage slavery.
Slavery, child labour, lethal working conditions - ending all of these in their turn were predicted to thrust our country into financial bankruptcy. They didn't, and neither will a minimum wage. Nor should we be diverted by the tragic picture of small businessmen forced into liquidation. A truer picture is that for every decent businessman predictably nervous about the impact of a minimum wage on his business, there are a dozen cynical fat cats just too damned greedy to play the game with their employees - and there can be few working people who couldn't name more than a few examples.
There used to be a saying in this country - "Let's do the decent thing". £3.60 an hour is barely decent, but it's a start.
John Luby, Scotland

No, £3.60 is not enough - as the people who "welcome" it would soon discover if they actually had to live on it!
Rita Gallard, England

Minimum wage levels both sides of the pond are far too low thus committing millions of workers to lives of poverty. Shameful!!
L M Steele, USA

I cannot understand how the government can have gone so astray on this issue.How can so little be of benefit to anyone? It's just another example of how it misunderstands the mood of the people and how it has not done its homework.
John Cambridge, UK

I have been in and out of very low-paid jobs for many years and have had to put up with the exploitation of unscrupulous employers without having any grounds for complaint. I, for one, welcome these recommendations.
Margaret Miles, UK

If you compare this minmum wage rate with other countries such as the US it is clear that this is a good deal. The US is enjoying a very strong economy and many US citizens I know through business have told me that the minimum wage has played a significant part in this stability. I think we should stop complaining.
Jonathen Stevens, Durham, UK

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