Minimum wage set to increase by 30c an hour

THE minimum wage is set to increase by 30 cents an hour.

The lowest paid will receive €9.55, or an extra €12 for a 40-hour week, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said yesterday. This change will come into effect in January.

Ireland’s Low Pay Commission made the recommendation.

Mr Varadkar said: ‘This would be a modest increase but it’s ahead of the rate of inflation and average increases in earnings.’

It would be the fourth increase in the minimum wage since 2011, the second under this Government, and a further step towards the Programme for Government commitment for a minimum wage of €10.50, the Taoiseach added.

The move was welcomed by Unite but the union said the new rate is still over €2 short of ‘the living wage’.

Ibec, the group that represents Irish business, argued there is no justification for further increases to the minimum wage.

The group warned that any increase would put businesses under pressure when they are already facing serious challenges due to Brexit.

Ibec’s employer relations director, Maeve McElwee, said: ‘Ibec supports the national minimum wage in principle, but any increase must be in line with economic realities.

‘Current trends provide no justification for such a substantial increase at a time when many Irish sectors are so exposed to competitive threats from Brexit.’ Unite’s Jimmy Kelly said: ‘Today’s modest increase only slightly narrows the gap with the living wage of €11.70, which has been independently calculated as what is needed to provide a minimum acceptable standard of living.’