The implications of the national minimum wage for training practices and skill utilisation in the United Kingdom hospitality industry

Abstract

Abstract:There is a crisis in the vocational training provision of the Channel Island of Jersey's construction industry that has similarities with the British situation. Unavailability and inappropriateness of skills, the non-viability of current training and recruitment policies on the island, the fragmentation of the training infrastructure, the demand-driven and task-or job-specific nature of training, the Jersey-born and male focus of recruitment and the uncoordinated, traditional and short-term approach of the local construction industry towards promotion and financing of training provision were found to be working against the industry's long-term needs and restricting its ability to respond to the variability of the production process. In contrast, a structured training policy incorporating the needs of both education and industry (employee and employer) and holding a long-term vision should enable the construction industry of Jersey to reverse the downward spiral.3

Recruiting, paying and training 16‐ and 17‐year‐old school leavers

“…Absolute and relative wage levels are, however, subject to a variety of organisation‐specific influences, examples of which include custom and practice, formal negotiations, perceptions of what is ‘fair’ and a concern on the part of managers with developing and maintaining orderly pay structures (Brown and Nolan, 1988; Gilman et al ., 2002; Rubery, 1997). Studies have suggested that age‐related pay differentials might be eschewed because employers think it ‘fair’ to pay the ‘rate for the job’, or because wage offers are based on the experience and qualifications of recruits, irrespective of their age, or because of a concern that paying a lower rate might damage employee motivation or result in recruitment or turnover problems (Heyes and Gray, 2004; IDS, 2002; Norris et al ., 2003). In a similar vein, studies have found that few US employers paid young workers a sub‐minimum wage between 1990 and 1993 when the opportunity to do so was available to them (from 1990 until 1993) (Card and Krueger, 1995).…”