If John Halligan gets his way, you could be getting a lot more for collecting glasses down the local soon enough. The Independent Alliance TD has called for a "liveable" wage to be introduced, saying that people should be earning at least €13 per hour. Halligan believes that this wage raise would pull more people into the tax net, benefiting everyone.
Halligan told Newstalk that he was aware that smaller businesses could suffer from paying €13 to every member of staff, but proposed that this could be fixed with grants and allowances for PRSI and tax cuts.
According to the Living Wage technical group, Halligan's proposed rate is €1.30 higher than the 2017 living wage.
At the beginning of July, the Low Pay Commission released what they recommend the minimum wage rates to be in the coming year, increasing the adult minimum wage to €9.55 an hour. Taoiseach Leo Varadkar stated that this increase would be "sustainable".
What do the proposed minimum wage increases mean for students?
If the Low Pay Commission's recommendations are taken aboard, the age-based rates will rise also. For those under 18, the rate would be raised by 70%, from €6.48 to €6.69. The rate for the first year from date of first employment over the age of 18 will be bumped from €7.40 to €7.64, and the rate for the second year would be going up by 27c to €8.60.
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That's essentially an extra bottle of Baron Saint Jean per week if you're working 20 hours. Let's pray that the folks over at Dáil Éireann let that happen.
Read Also: The Living Wage Has Increased But Will It Make A Difference?
Via: The Irish Times
