> Hmm, the article is from February 2022, aka right when we had "peak economy" just before the wordlwide shit hit the fan and everything tanked again, so I'm curious how much of that wage grows was just due to the Covid money printing boom that drove up demand in **all sectors**
you answered your own question here
> Except now they have even more competition from outside the EU, with the UK reaching migration records as of recently. And non-EU cheap labor tends to be even cheaper compared to cheap EU labor.
there's a minimum salary requirement
previously this didn't apply to labour from the EU, now it does
so they've all but completely shut out low wage competition from the EU
>there's a minimum salary requirement; previously this didn't apply to labour from the EU, now it does
Excuse me but how is this the EU's fault and not the UK's own fault for not enforcing some sort of minimum wages before?
Where I live now in Austria, there are legally require minimal salary bands negotiated yearly by unions for every profession, so no matter where you come from for work, an employer here is mandated to pay you at least that legal mandated salary regardless if you are Austrian, EU or non-EU, just so it's much more difficult for an employer to wage-dump by using desperate migrants.
So, what stopped the UK from enforcing minimum salary bands on all workers instead of going through the extreme self flagelatory route of leaving the EU and loosing out on the EU membership benefits instead? You might say that would have been difficult and complex to implement, but so was Brexit and that came with pain on the side.
To me, most of the issues the UK complained it was suffering because of the EU, like this one and others, were all self inflicted through poor internal policies, as other wealthy nations in the EU did have proper measures in place to not have the issues the UK had, so blaming the EU was UK's lazy way of pointing fingers for it's own pollical incompetence.
>sounds like they got exactly what they wanted
For now maybe, but long term that could be being penny wise but pound foolish. Investors invested a lot in the UK post 2014 because being part of the EU was a big selling point. Who knows how it will play out now that the UK is isolated and with open borders.
> So, what stopped the UK from enforcing minimum salary bands on all workers instead of going through the extreme self flagelatory route of leaving the EU and loosing out on the EU membership benefits instead? You might say that would have been difficult and complex to implement, but so was Brexit and that came with pain on the side.
It's really easy. Germany has a minimum wage. Everyone has to get it. End of story. That's just a problem UK made for itself before and politicians who got pressured by their donors to keep the cheap labor as long as possible looked around and "uh ... its ... uh ... the EU is at fault!"
>and politicians who got pressured by their donors to keep the cheap labor as long as possible looked around and "uh ... its ... uh ... the EU is at fault!"
Spot on. All the problems the UK was complaining about were entirely self inflicted but also entirely fixable internally without having to leave the EU.
The EU was not stopping the UK form fixing it's shit, like implementing minimum wages or expelling illegal migrants, the same way the EU wasn't stopping Germany, Austria, Netherlands, Finland, etc. from taking care of their internal matters much better than the UK has.
> Investors invested a lot in the UK post 2014 because being part of the EU was a big selling point. Who knows how it will play out now that the UK is isolated and with open borders.
I'm sure the working class are devastated that foreign investors have potentially lost money
> Excuse me but how is this the EU's fault and not the UK's own fault for not enforcing some sort of minimum wages before?
it has one?
you have missed the point entirely, and have now dropped to arguing in bad faith
Then it was a very poorly implemented one that obviously does not work.
>I'm sure the working class are devastated that foreign investors have potentially lost money
Who's the one responding in bad faith here? Investors aren't just the stereotypical Monopoly Man smoking cigars in his top hat while driving his convertible in central London.
Investors means all the companies opening up shop in the UK creating jobs for those working class people: semiconductor, auto manufacturers, aerospace, metal work, med tech, electronics, etc. Outside of the EU, the UK becomes less attractive to open up jobs there by international investors.
You clearly have no understanding what "investment" means and instead responding in bad faith to invisible straw men with a chip on your shoulder.
you answered your own question here
> Except now they have even more competition from outside the EU, with the UK reaching migration records as of recently. And non-EU cheap labor tends to be even cheaper compared to cheap EU labor.
there's a minimum salary requirement
previously this didn't apply to labour from the EU, now it does
so they've all but completely shut out low wage competition from the EU
sounds like they got exactly what they wanted