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The Government has approved an increase in the National Minimum Wage of 10 cents an hour, which will bring it to € 10.20 an hour from January 1.
The measure will benefit more than 122,000 minimum wage workers, although unions have dismissed the less than 1% increase as inappropriate.
A few weeks ago, the general secretary of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, Patricia King, and the general secretary of the retail union Mandate Gerry Light resigned from the Low Pay Commission on the grounds that the 10 cent increase proposed by the group was not sufficient to address the needs of minimum wage workers.
Social Protection Minister Heather Humphreys noted that the minimum wage had increased from € 8.65 in 2016 to its current rate of € 10.10.
However, he also pledged to reform the PRSI thresholds to reflect the increase in the minimum wage and to help employers.
“I also want to make sure that the minimum wage increase does not result in employers having to pay a higher level of PRSI fee solely because of this increase. I will make regulations that will increase the employer’s PRSI threshold from € 395 currently to € 398 from January 1, 2021, “he said.
Ms Humhreys said that the Low Pay Commission had played an important role in improving data collection on low-wage and minimum wage workers, and in developing a strong research base.
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