Paving the way for the minimum wage
The work of the Centre for Economic Performance has made a significant contribution to the evidence base for a National Minimum Wage.
In the early 1990s, their work was critical in providing evidence that the assumption that a minimum wage would necessarily lead to job losses was wrong. The Centre's research also became critical to informing the Low Pay Commission on the appropriate level of the minimum wage, and was fundamental to the recommendation that the minimum wage should be increased above the level of inflation over the four-year period 2003-06.
It has been estimated that over 12 million workers have benefited from the introduction of the minimum wage, at a total wage-bill impact of about £1.2 billion.