The minimum wage vs inflation (graph)
Although the government deserves a degree of credit for seeing off calls from business leaders to freeze the minimum wage, by increasing it to £6.31 - meagre increase of twelve pence - it has yet again failed to ensure the minimum wage is above inflation for the third year running.
Although the government deserves a degree of credit for seeing off calls from business leaders to freeze the minimum wage, by increasing it to £6.31 – meagre increase of twelve pence – it has yet again failed to ensure the minimum wage is above inflation for the third year running.
The graph below shows the percentage change in the minimum wage compared to CPI inflation since Tony Blair introduced minimum wage legislation in 1999.
For the first nine years of its existence the minimum wage soared above inflation levels, peaking at 9.6 per cent above inflation in 2001.
However, inflation levels surpassed the minimum wage percentage in 2008, the biggest difference between the two coming in 2011, with inflation percentages being almost 2 per cent above the minimum wage.
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