The Institute of Fiscal Studies (IFS) has warned that increasing the living wage could prompt employers to automate more jobs. According to BBC News, plans to increase the minimum hourly rate to £8.50 by 2020 could backfire as robots replace human workers.
The report’s author Agnes Norris Keiller said that “beyond some point a higher minimum wage must start affecting employment. We do not know where that point is.”
The report’s argument is that it will become economically preferable for companies to invest in automated systems to complete tasks if labour costs become prohibitive. Raising minimum wages could therefore hurt low-paid […]
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