United Kingdom: the minimum wage increases

Since 2015 in the United Kingdom, the situation has been changing: over successive Prime Ministers, the minimum wage has continued to increase. Monday January 17, in France, the hourly Smic amounts to 10.57 euros gross, while in the United Kingdom, from April 2022, it will be 11.30 euros. The English minimum income has increased by a third in five years. To address the shortage of workforce, Roberto Scalzo, owner of the Sicily restaurant in London, agrees with this increase in principle, “but now is not the time“. He wants this to be delayed in order to help businesses recover from the Covid-19 pandemic.

On the employee side, we observe that the cost of living is increasing and that these revaluations will not compensate for inflation. In addition, some social aids have been reduced by the government. “What they give us on one side, they take from us on the other. But it’s good all the same, this increase“, estimates Fatima Buglione, employee of the Sicily restaurant. This revaluation does not increase the unemployment rate, which still stands at 4.2%. It is still full employment in the United Kingdom.