Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Economy – in the Senedd at 1:55 pm on 19 January 2022.
Diolch, Llywydd. We know that people and workers in Wales are currently living through a cost-of-living crisis, which is only set to get worse. The UK inflation rate is currently at 5.4 per cent—the highest rate in 30 years—with increases expected to continue, peaking at 6 per cent in spring 2022. These high inflation rates are considerably higher than current wage growth, which has been around 4 per cent in the second half of 2021. This means that real wages are falling and are expected to continue to fall compared to prices. In fact, wages are not expected to grow significantly until the end of 2022, and, even by 2025, real wages will be nearly £800 lower than they would have been if pre-pandemic growth had taken place. This is also disproportionately affecting those on low incomes, with nearly a third of households on low incomes seeing their income fall since May 2021. The Minister touched on this in an answer to a previous question, but given that workers are working the same or more hours, given that workers are earning less money in real terms and have a lower ability to buy the necessities they need, could the Minister set out what the Welsh Government is doing to ensure that workers on the minimum wage see an increase in their wages during this cost-of-living crisis?