Reform Jersey Press Release - the 'Living Wage'

Living Wage – what we were not told.

Reform Jersey member, Deputy Geoff Southern today accuses the chief minister of misleading States members, the media and members of the public over the presentation of the report into the viability of adopting a living wage for Jersey.

“Although on the surface the report appears to be a neutral and technical document” says Deputy Southern, “it is in fact a highly political and skewed view, designed to put as many blocks as possible on the path to the adoption of a Jersey living wage.”


The research conducted ignores the two central aims of the minimum wage:

• to reduce in-work poverty and dependence on benefits, and
• to lift working families out of relative low income (poverty)

The report avoids dealing with the former by ignoring completely the evidence from the 2014 London living wage report which shows an hourly rate to meet basic living costs excluding benefits of between £11 and £15.84 for families with children and between £6.50 and £13.45 for those without.

Similarly, the London report suggests that to lift families above the poverty line would require hourly wage rates, excluding benefits, of between £11.60 and £15.84.

“In suggesting that Jersey already has a living wage and need do little more, the Chief Minister reneges on his promise to protect the poor and vulnerable. He governs by spin,” says Deputy Southern.