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Hi,

So have a question.

In America we have a minimum wage here, so we can use that as a starting point when it comes to talking about people making money.

Often one will say here something like "He would make more dollars per hour working at mcdonalds than with his current salary and hours he works."

I think you all in Britain and Eurozone don't have a minimum wage.

So how much money does a person working at a bottom-of-the-totem-pole job make an hour? How much would someone make doing the average gruntwork at a fast food restaurant or something similar?

I wonder this because I'll see prices posted in Euros, Pounds, and USD and wonder if they are as relatively high to you guys as they are to us.

There is a minimum wage here in the UK:

* £6.08 - the main rate for workers aged 21 and over
* £4.98 - the 18-20 rate
* £3.68 - the 16-17 rate for workers above school leaving age but under 18
* £2.60 - the apprentice rate, for apprentices under 19 or 19 or over and in the first year of their apprenticeship

Albatross wrote:There is a minimum wage here in the UK:

* £6.08 - the main rate for workers aged 21 and over
* £4.98 - the 18-20 rate
* £3.68 - the 16-17 rate for workers above school leaving age but under 18
* £2.60 - the apprentice rate, for apprentices under 19 or 19 or over and in the first year of their apprenticeship

That's $9.50, $7.78, $5.75 and $4.06 respectively.

The majority of workers over 18 in part time employment do get over 6.08 though.

I was also puzzled by the thought we don't have a minimum wage, I thought Americans thought us to be a load of liberal softies that look after our poor?

Where did you get the idea that we don't have minimum wage?

Oliver Twist.

The source material might be a touch outdated...
That said you never can tell with Cockneys. I saw a documentary about a tribe of cockneys that had never heard of electricity.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sovereign_states_in_Europe_by_minimum_wage
They even have a map with it on.
They don't seem to have Germany on there though, I'd bet my bottom Euro that Germany DOES have a minimum wage.

AFAIK every country in Europe has a minimum wage, even over here in PIIG land...

purplefood wrote:Where did you get the idea that we don't have minimum wage?

I really don't recall. I've just never heard of anyone talking about minimum wage or making references to it when financial stuff is being talked about.

No-one on minimum wage can afford an internet connection.

You never heard about people on an American new network talking about the minimum wage in European countries thus you doubted its existance? BBC News here has a financial segment (and I bet every other network has one too), but all they seem to talk about at the moment is the Eurozone crisis/ the banks - which is pretty much what they were talking about four years ago and will be what they're talking about in a couple of years too. =P

ivangterrace wrote:

purplefood wrote:Where did you get the idea that we don't have minimum wage?

I really don't recall. I've just never heard of anyone talking about minimum wage or making references to it when financial stuff is being talked about.

I've never heard of the American minimum wage...

purplefood wrote:

ivangterrace wrote:

purplefood wrote:Where did you get the idea that we don't have minimum wage?

I really don't recall. I've just never heard of anyone talking about minimum wage or making references to it when financial stuff is being talked about.

I've never heard of the American minimum wage...

That's because it's piss-poor. Varies state by state but it's about £4.50-£5.50 an hour.

I'm on £5.21 an hour atm and I manage alright - granted, my housing is heavily subsidised, but I'm pretty sure Americans have parents too.

Joey wrote:

purplefood wrote:

ivangterrace wrote:

purplefood wrote:Where did you get the idea that we don't have minimum wage?

I really don't recall. I've just never heard of anyone talking about minimum wage or making references to it when financial stuff is being talked about.

I've never heard of the American minimum wage...

That's because it's piss-poor. Varies state by state but it's about £4.50-£5.50 an hour.

I figured as much...

The UK has a minmum wage, pretty much indefinite welfare (It gets crappy after a while but you won't starve); Subsidised housing for people on welfare upto medium income (depending on family size); subsidised child care; supplimentary family income; free milk for mothers and children on low income; subsidised winter energy costs for the elderly; a state pension; essentially free healthcare for all; heavily subsidised prescriptions and slightly subsidised dental care for all.

All of the above is available for the extra around 6% tax we call National insurance.

We may be soft "socialist" pansies but I would not want to be without any of this.

Oh and the the higher rate minimum wage has gone up to £6.80.

To be fair, the national insurance rate is higher than 6% and there is also general taxation that helps pay for everything.

NI is in effect a payroll tax levied on both the employee and the company.

Ah but the employee only pays around 6% I wasn't talking about employers contributions and NI pays for the lion's share of the above.

National Insurance is organised in bands somewhat like income tax. Perhaps there is a minimum rate of 6%. The standard rate is 10%.

The money paid by the employer is not available to be paid to the staff or to the shareholders.

I mean it is all taxation in one form or another. It all goes into central government funds and is used to pay for everything that central government wants to spend on, from the armed forces, to pensions, to the NHS, to unemployment benefit.

In France, the minimum wage is 9,22 euro/hour before deduction of social security and retirement pension fund contributions.