Hot off the virtual presses: the Guardian's politicsblog reports that Gordon Brown has revealed that the national minimum wage (NMW) will rise to £5.73 per hour, with effect from October 2008.
Brown made mention of the latest planned increase to the NMW adult rate at today's weekly prime minister's questions in response to a question from Fabian Hamilton of Leeds North East.
The latest annual uprating is therefore set at 3.8%, 0.6 percentage points above the previous increase (subscription required), which resulted in the NMW rising to £5.52 per hour with effect from 1 October 2007.
It is also 0.3 percentage points below the current rate of headline rate of inflation (4.1%), as measured by the annual change in the all-items retail prices index (RPI) (subscription required).
In a press release on its website, the TUC has welcomed the increase.
TUC general secretary Brendan Barber comments:
The Low Pay Commission was right to withstand pressure from business warning of economic trouble ahead. The truth is that employers will be able to absorb these sensible increases without too much difficulty.
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