The implications of the National Minimum Wage for training practices and skill utilisation in the UK hospitality industry

Two key issues thrown up by the 1999 introduction of the National Minimum Wage (NMW) in the United Kingdom are its likely impact on employers’ training practices in low paying sectors of the economy and the implications for skills. Based on a study of the hospitality industry, this article assesses the limited significance of the differential, ‘subminimum’ NMW rates as devices for promoting skills development and considers the absence of any direct impact on training practices of the statutory floor of wages in general. The weaknesses of a policy framework dominated by a supply-side ethos in which the importance of incentives for employers to provide training and employment opportunities is prioritised, rather than one in which an opportunity is taken to use the NMW as part of a wider strategy to generate greater demand for skills in low-paying industries are attested.