A living wage?

In recent weeks and months there have been various articles calling for the introduction of a national living wage. One of the main supporters is Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London. Indeed, the GLA will not do business with companies who do not guarantee to pay its staff  a living wage.

Whilst low paid workers need to be better protected from exploitation, the main victims of low wages appear to have no one championing their corner. The national minimum wage pays various rates of pay to staff depending upon their age. This means that young workers will often be paid far less in hourly terms than their adult colleagues regardless of ability or hard work. It cannot be right that a conscientious and hard working 16 year old can be paid less than his or her adult colleague who chooses to do nothing more than the bare minimum in the workplace.

Now that workers are aged from 16 to well into their 60's, 70's and sometimes beyond surely the time has come to have one minimum national living wage which does not depend upon age. The employer can then decide who contributes what in the workplace and may decide to pay slightly more than the minimum figure to a worker who contributes more than his colleagues. If we are to have such a diverse workforce in terms of age then a level playing field must be created for all.