Trade unions call for €2 increase to minimum wage

Michael Bolton

The Irish Congress of Trade Unions is calling for a quicker rollout of the national living wage.

It says the national minimum wage should increase by €2 from next January, with a similar rise the following year.

The union says previous Government changes to the tax system have benefited middle and high-income earners.

Owen Reidy, general secretary of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, says the cost-of-living crisis is affecting Ireland's youth in particular.

"The State has failed young workers, and those young workers have been shut out of the housing market, the rental market, and they really need to be given a break.

"We know that many employers will say that this will damage the economy, and it will lead to job losses, but we have heard those calls before, we heard it in 2020 when the new minimum wage was introduced.

However, financial advisor and analyst Karl Deeter thinks raising the minimum wage would put lower-paid jobs at risk.

"When this was studied in the USA where they do very deep statistical analysis, they said raising the minimum wage would lift 15 million people out of poverty. That's a really good outcome.

"The not so good outcome is it would result in 1.3 million job losses, and have a higher barrier to future job market entry, particularly amongst young men and particularly against minorities."