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Maeve McElwee: Job losses and closures will be cost of not backing businesses

The government’s plan to replace the national minimum wage with a ‘living wage’ by 2026 must be backed by essential supports to employers

Failure to help small and medium-sized businesses with the transition to a living wage risks leaving many of them, and those whose jobs rely on them, behind, according to Ibec

It has been widely reported that the Low Pay Commission made a recommendation to increase the national minimum wage by 12 per cent, or €1.40, which would bring it to €12.70 in January 2024.

These recommendations form part of the government’s wider plans to replace the national minimum wage with a new, higher “living wage” by 2026. The living wage will be set at 60 per cent of hourly median wages in line with the ...