The Low Pay Commission has published a report outlining their recommendations for the April 2019 National Living Wage (NLW) and National Minimum Wage (NMW) rates. The report evaluates the impact of the NLW so far and found that as many as 5 million people benefited from the increase in April 2018.
The report frequently acknowledges ACS’ research and highlights that certain sectors, including retail, may be disproportionately affected by the NLW increases. The report recognises convenience retailers are reducing the number of hours that they employ staff for (75%) as well as increasing the number of hours that they work (60%) to manage the impact of increased wage rates.
However, the analysis did not find any clear evidence that the increases in NLW had negatively affected employment, overall. The evidence resulted in the LPC recommending that the NLW remain on its path to 60 percent of median earnings by 2020, with an increase of 4.9% to £8.21 an hour in April 2019.
ACS chief executive James Lowman said: “We are pleased that the Low Pay Commission has listened to our evidence and has continued to set wage rates based on thorough and objective economic analysis.”
“ACS will continue to engage with the Low Pay Commission to ensure that they consider the impact of higher wage rates on businesses and help them to set their wage rates beyond 2020.”
The Low Pay Commission’s full report on wage rates is available here.
