Patrick J. Morley
Ceist:42 Mr. Morley asked the Minister for Social Welfare the plans, if any, he has to bring forward his proposals for a minimum wage and a minimum income to Government for discussion. [10371/96]
Written Answers. - Minimum Wage.
The Minister, Deputy De Rossa, set out his views on this issue in a written reply on 22 February last. In summary, the position is as follows.
A key objective of the Government is to make the social welfare system more "work-friendly" in the sense that it not only provides an adequate minimum income for people without other adequate means of support, but enables such people to take up any employment opportunities which may arise for them. In line with this objective, we have made a number of changes in order to make it more attractive for unemployed people to take up work, and for employers to create new jobs. For example, in this year's budget we reduced the rate of employers' PRSI, making it chepaer for employers to take on new workers.
It is in this context that the Minister called on IBEC and other employers' organisations to begin to consider how, in the light of other pro-employment changes in the tax and welfare areas, the problem of low pay can best be addressed. Considerable progress could be made within the current legislative arrangements, by building on the rudimentary system of "sectoral minimum wages", as represented by the legallybinding joint labour committee rates in a number of industries and the registered employment agreement provisions of the industrial relations legislation, which altogether cover around 150,000 workers. Low pay is not a problem in all sectors, and so there is no need to address all sectors immediately.