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Rise in Minimum Wage Dire For Retailers
Listed under: News
Published: Friday, March 26, 2010
The decision to increase the minimum wage this year could threaten job creation within the retail sector over the next 12 months, forcing UK businesses to cut back their staffs' hours in an attempt to save money, according to a recent report from the retail support group, The Association of Convenience Stores (ACS).
The initiative, which will see the UK's minimum wage rise by 2.2% to £5.93 this year, was announced in the Chancellor's annual Budget report earlier this month and has already attracted criticism from some of the leading business support groups in the country.
Commenting on the devastating affect it could have on the retail sector, James Lowman, chief executive of the ACS, says, “Throughout his Budget speech the Chancellor stressed the need to support the economic recovery and not threaten jobs. We know that when faced with increases in the minimum wage, retailers will cut back on jobs and hours, so we think that this is an ill-judged and mistimed decision.”
He adds, “We argued strongly that there should be no increase in the minimum wage this year and this rise follows a series of ministerial commitments to deliver consistent increases over the next five years, which is a political promise that local shops will struggle to afford.”
The initiative, which will see the UK's minimum wage rise by 2.2% to £5.93 this year, was announced in the Chancellor's annual Budget report earlier this month and has already attracted criticism from some of the leading business support groups in the country.
Commenting on the devastating affect it could have on the retail sector, James Lowman, chief executive of the ACS, says, “Throughout his Budget speech the Chancellor stressed the need to support the economic recovery and not threaten jobs. We know that when faced with increases in the minimum wage, retailers will cut back on jobs and hours, so we think that this is an ill-judged and mistimed decision.”
He adds, “We argued strongly that there should be no increase in the minimum wage this year and this rise follows a series of ministerial commitments to deliver consistent increases over the next five years, which is a political promise that local shops will struggle to afford.”
Just goes to show - along with the increase in National Insurance and the fact that we are coming out of recession (how did I miss that?!) that this Chancellor and Government have NO IDEA AT ALL of the realities in trying to run a small shop in a market town.
Along with the rise in Business Rates I am more convinced than ever that the Government neither knows nor cares about small retail businesses like mine.