【英语生活】英国“最低生活工资”本周启动 Economics lab British experiment with higher minimum wage goes live

Britain is about to embark on a bold experiment that will push up its minimum wage to one of the higher rates among developed economies.

At least 1.8m people will receive a pay rise on Friday thanks to the national living wage — a new minimum rate for workers aged 25 and over.

It will start at ￡7.20 an hour and increase to 60 per cent of median earnings, or about ￡9 an hour by 2020. That is similar to levels in Australia and France, countries with relatively high minimum wages. It means the value of the minimum wage for the over-25s, relative to median pay, is set to rise by as much in the five years to 2020 as it did in the previous 16.

Finance minister George Osborne believes he can use the measure to raise pay for millions without damaging the jobs boom of the past five years.

Britain’s labour market, with a jobless rate at 5.1 per cent of the workforce, has outperformed most of the rest of Europe since the financial crisis. The employment rate is at a record high.

In some big European eco-nomies the jobless rate stands above 10 per cent, while growth has also lagged behind the UK.

Mr Osborne’s plan has worried some Conservative government supporters and divided experts.

Carl Emmerson and Jonat-han Cribb, economists at the UK’s influential Institute for Fiscal Studies, said the policy would benefit many low-paid people. But they predicted some workers would have their hours cut or lose their jobs, while the unemployed would “find it harder to get a job”.

“It is clearly a risk. The government should monitor its effects closely and if necessary revisit the policy,” they said.

英国即将启动一项大胆实验，将其最低工资推高至发达经济体中的较高标准。

至少180万人将在本周五获得加薪，得益于面向25岁及以上劳动者的最低工资新标准——“全国最低生活工资”(national living wage)。

它将从每小时7.20英镑起步，到2020年提高至收入中值的60%，相当于每小时约9英镑。那将与澳大利亚和法国的水平相仿，这两个国家的最低工资标准相对较高。这将意味着，对于25岁以上的劳动者，最低工资值相对于收入中值在截至2020年的5年间的涨幅，将与之前16年的涨幅相同。

财政大臣乔治?奥斯本(George Osborne)相信，他可以借助此举为数以百万计的人们提高工资，而不致损害过去5年的就业繁荣。

目前失业率仅为劳动力总人数5.1%的英国劳动力市场，自金融危机以来表现好于欧洲多数其他国家。就业率处于创纪录高位。

欧洲某些大型经济体的失业率在10%以上，而经济增长也滞后于英国。

奥斯本的计划使保守党政府的一些支持者感到不安，并在专家中引发不同意见。

英国颇具影响力的财政研究所(Institute for Fiscal Studies)的经济学家卡尔?埃默森(Carl Emmerson)和乔纳森?克里布(Jonathan Cribb)表示，该政策将使许多低收入人士受益。但他们预计，一些劳动者将面临工时被削减，甚至失去工作，而失业者将“发现更难找到工作”。

“这显然是一个风险。政府应密切监测其影响，并在必要时修改这项政策，”他们表示。

译者/和风