increasing the minimum wage saves in welfare payments

The higher the minimum wage level the greater the welfare bill falls! Yes you read that correctly and the lower the minimum wage the more the UK tax payer pays out in welfare to subsidise low paid jobs. If you increase the minimum wage the country spends far lesson working tax credit and housing benefit. WTC and HB are in reality subsidies to low wage paying employers as earn enough in wages and you don’t qualify for WTC or HB; both of these ‘benefits’ have risen sharply with for example the amount of housing benefit paid to those in work has more than tripled from £1.6 billion in November 2008 to £5.3 billion in November 2016 and we spend out £3 on working tax credit for every £1 spent on JSA, i.e. dole! Housing Benefit like Working Tax Credit enables UK employers to peg wage levels at or near national minimum wage levels in full knowledge that the government will subsidise workers income with welfare and particularly HB and WTC. wrote: