Question

What are the trends in the national minimum wage for the UK?

Please answer in an easy to understand way.

Answer 1

On 1 April 1999 the NMW was launched. Since then, without destroying jobs, it's rising faster than average wages and inflation.
The National Living Wage (NLW) hit £ 8.21 on April 1, 2019, the principal minimum wage rate. If instead it had risen in line with average earnings it would be £ 6.54, it would be £ 6.31 (RPI) or £ 5.39 (CPI) if it had risen with the rates.

The number of workers ' employed' has risen from 830,000 in 1999 to 2 million in 2018 (paid within a few pence of the rates).
But the impact on earnings has far more effects on people: up to 30 percent of workers. Hourly pay has risen the highest for the lowest paid since 1999, eliminating the previous trend where slower-than-average earnings growth was seen in the lowest paid. The average worker endured a lost decade of real pay growth during the financial crisis and subsequent recovery as wage increases stagnated (median pay is 4 per cent lower in real terms than in 2008). But the NMW and the implementation of the NLW in 2016 meant that real pay for low-paid workers improved far more rapidly

About 30 per cent of employees have gained from the NMW / NLW and the weekly pay for workers with the lowest hourly wages has risen more rapidly.
The LPC has funded more than 30 studies over the past 20 years looking at the impacts of the NMW on hours and jobs.
Employers have responded to the NMW and the NLW in a number of ways: by reducing profits; by increasing prices; and by reforming their company and labor.