Up to 2 million UK workers will be getting bigger paychecks starting in April following a hike to the minimum wage.
The minimum hourly wage for people over the age of 23 will increase by 6.6% to £9.50 , the government said ahead of its budget announcement on Wednesday.The increase to the National Living Wage is more than twice the current inflation rate of 3.1%. But it has been criticized as inadequate because inflation is expected to race higher in the coming months and the government is slashing benefits for some low earners while hiking taxes on workers.
But he cautioned that the April hike"would in fact be a smaller real rise than some recent years, given that inflation is likely to be over 4% by April 2022."Some economists are expecting prices to surge even higher. Huw Pill, the Bank of England's top economist, told the Financial Times last week that he"would not be shocked" to see inflation top 5% early next year.
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