There are whisperings in a couple of right wing think tanks that we ought in these difficult times to be having another look at the minimum wage, currently £5.73 per hour.
It has been said that a minimum wage is either useless or dangerous and there is some truth in this. Imagine it were 57.3p per hour (about £23 per week): it would have no effect whatsoever. No one works for that kind of money any more. But imagine it were £57.30 per hour, that is to say it would be illegal to employ anyone for less than £2,300 per week: huge swathes of British industry would be wiped out, millions on the dole.
What proponents of a minimum wage say is that a happy medium can be found which doesn't reduce employment but does help people. Whether this is true or not (and I think it is not true), that figure would be different in bad times to what it was in good times. There is a good argument for saying it is now too high and that we shall emerge from recession more slowly if companies cannot employ people for what they can afford to pay them.
Perhaps we can chip away at the minimum wage by creating more exemptions, for young people, for certain industries etc, and committing ourselves not to increase it. Some politician needs to show the courage to raise the subject. Mr Cameron? I think not.
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