Chairperson of Labour Youth comments “Labour Youth opposes Young Fine Gael’s proposal for the minimum wage to be cut by up to 2 euro for employers of young workers. Labour Youth strongly believes that the State should not subsidise or indeed incentivise low pay and should not encourage a race towards lower wages among employers.”

“Research from the Nevin Economic Research Institute shows that Ireland has below average hourly labour costs for employers. Therefore cutting pay is clearly not an appropriate solution to getting more young people back to work. Instead what we need to see is wage increases to stimulate demand in the economy. The more money people have in their pockets, goes into the economy which benefits workers and employers, as people are spending more. It also benefits the State because huge amounts of money can be saved as less people will be in need of low income support supplements from the Department of Social Protection.”

“Young Fine Gael’s proposal to cut the mininum wage by up to 2 euro for businesses only benefits bosses it does nothing to solve the problem of stagnating wages and will not inject much needed consumer demand into the economy. What the Irish economy needs is stimulus not more concessions to businesses.”

Ends 

Ciaran Garrett Chairperson of Labour Youth

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