Covid Pay €100 rise for half of all low earners

MANY minimum wage workers are €100-aweek better off on the Pandemic Unemployment Pay of €350 weekly than they were when working, a study has found.

Almost 62,000 people, half the 122,800 minimum wage earners in the country, work in the notoriously low-paid sectors of accommodation, food and retail – the very areas that have experienced the worst rates of business closures due to the Covid-19 crisis.

The national minimum wage is currently €10.10 an hour but many of the workers do less than 35 hours a week as casual labour, meaning the €350 payment would actually be a ‘wage rise’ for many. Dr Paul Redmond, author of the ESRI’s Minimum Wage Policy in Ireland report, said: ‘The Covid-19 crisis has led to widespread disruption in the retail, accommodation and food sectors.

‘These sectors alone employ half of all minimum wage workers in Ireland, meaning lowpaid workers may be disproportionately impacted by job losses in these areas.

‘The key policy question over the next 12 months will be whether the minimum wage should be increased, decreased or remain the same. The evidence shows that minimum wage changes have little effect on employment. We also know that changes to the minimum wage impact wage inequality. These are issues that will need to be considered by the Low Pay Commission and policymakers in the coming months.’

The fact many minimum-wage workers are better off on the Pandemic Unemployment Payment did not surprise Dr Redmond.

‘Minimum wage employees, they typically work fewer hours than other higher-paid employees,’ he added.

‘More than half of minimum wage employees work less than 30 hours per week and in sectors such as retail, accommodation and food they work about 23 hours a week.’