We want to reward work and ensure that work pays more. Minimum wage workers are among the hardest working people in Ireland and deserve to be paid appropriately, particularly at a time of rising prices. In September, the Government agreed to accept the Low Pay Commission’s recommendation to increase the national minimum wage by 80 cent to €11.30 from 1 January 2023. At least 164,000 people will benefit, but we think many hundreds of thousands more will benefit from the knock-on increases that those on slightly higher pay will get. It works out at roughly €30 per week, €120 a month or €1,664 a year for a person in full-time employment.
Ireland has a well-established system for setting the minimum wage based on the Low Pay Commission and it is a system that works well. As the Deputy is aware, I want to move from a national minimum wage to a national living wage. Following Government approval in November, I announced the introduction of a national living wage for employees. This will be benchmarked at 60% of hourly median wages in line with the recommendations of the Low Pay Commission. It will be phased in over a four-year period running to 2026. The new agreed national minimum wage of €11.30 per hour from 1 January 2023 is in line with this transition and therefore next year can be considered the first year of a proposed four-year path towards reaching a living wage of 60% of median wages. The introduction of the living wage is the latest in a series of improvements to workers' rights over the past two years, including statutory sick pay, protection of tips and service charges, a new public holiday and the work-life balance legislation currently going through the Dáil.