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Increasing national minimum wage case backed by TUC
02/07/2008 17:32:00
Research into the financial state of low-income families from social policy charity the Joseph Rowntree Foundation boosts the case for increasing the national minimum wage (NMW), the Trades Union Congress (TUC) has said.
Among the findings from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, it was determined that a single person living in the UK would need to be earning at least £13,400 before tax to afford a "basic but acceptable" standard of living.
Calculations from the BBC showed a single person would need to earn £6.88 an hour working full-time to achieve the minimum standards set out by the research.
In contrast, this is below the current statutory minimum wage of £5.52.
Brendan Barber, general secretary for the TUC, said while his organisation would remain "cautious about basing benefits on a single method of calculating minimum incomes", the research study was "useful evidence" that both benefits rates and the NMW should be "set higher".
A study from Jobsite.co.uk showed the optimum average wage which most workers in the UK consider would make them happy is £38,000.
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