|
Business today (Monday) gave a cautious reaction to the government's
announcement that the Minimum Wage is set to rise from £3.70
to £4.10. Chris Humphries, Director General of the British Chambers
of Commerce said:
"A rise of around 11 per cent is higher than many businesses
will both expect and believe they can cope with.
"Less efficient firms will find it difficult to sustain such
an increase and there is no doubt this will have some impact
on business survival and consequently on jobs, particularly
in the textiles, retail and social care sectors.
"In the social care sector in particular, where margins are
extremely tight, only the leanest companies will be in a position
to absorb an 11 per cent pay increase, and their reaction, under
pressure from government to meet budget targets, will be to
cut jobs.
"We are also fearful that such a rise will put pressure on pay
settlements over the next few months for those firms directly
affected and for those in related sectors, as employees earning
above the minimum wage look for comparative increases."
Background Information & Contacts:
The BCC National Conference, sponsored by Cisco Systems, will
be held at the QEII Conference Centre, Westminster, during 27-28
March 2001. Speakers include William Hague, Charles Kennedy,
Jack Straw, Stephen Byers, Lord Macdonald, John Monks and DeAnne
Julius.
The British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) represents, through a
quality assured, UK network of Accredited Chambers of Commerce,
more than 135,000 businesses in all sectors of the economy,
and of all sizes. Accredited Chambers seek to represent the
interests and support the competitiveness and growth of all
businesses in their communities and regions.
Website: www.britishchambers.org.uk
|
