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Resources - money and debt
Tuesday, 20 September 2011
Consultation on the National Minimum Wage
Women are far more likely than men to be in low-paid work, so the National Minimum Wage has great potential in helping to lift girls and women out of poverty.
The rising cost of living, changes to benefits and tax credits, cuts to public services, and earnings having failed to rise in line with inflation, have squeezed women's finances. This year it's harder than ever for women to get by.
We are concerned that the current National Minimum Wage adult rate is too low to maintain a reasonable standard of living for women surviving on low paid work, that the youth rates are arbitrary, discriminatory and unfair, and that the apprentice rate is too low to support women in training.
If action isn't taken child poverty is likely to increase and social mobility impaired.
Read our submission to the Low Pay Commission's consultation on the National Minimum Wage.
