T. U. London, John MONKS, general secretary of the T.U.C. emphasises " the moral issue which is all too often forgotten because of economic questions and debate, 1996.

. R. Forrest-&-s and . Dennison, The Guardian 8 Ibid. 9 Most economy textbooks provide an elementary description of monopsony. For a reader-friendly and thorough examination of minimum-wage laws including a study of the interaction between monopsony and minimum wages see D Low pay or No pay, a Review of the Theory and Practice of Minimum-Wage Laws, London: The Institute of Economic Affairs, 1983. 10 The retail, hotel and catering industries account for a vast majority of low paid workers in Great Britain. With all due respect to people who take great pride in working for these industries, cleaning, shelve-stacking or selling for example, are within most people's grasp although accomplishing these tasks day in day out in a cheerful manner is certainly not, 11 The British Household Panel Survey, the General Household Survey and the New Earnings Surveys are just three examples of official data available, 1996.

. Op, H. Cit, S. Machin, S. Or, S. et al., The Dynamics of Time at Work: an Anglo-French Perspective The Management Centre Boosting women's pay Social security versus the Minimum Wage The New Review, London: Low pay Unit Minimum Wage Benefits Low Pay and Minimum Wages: the British Evidence, Centre for Economic Performance Evidence from SUTHERLAND, H. op.cit. is used. 17 Ibid., p. 22. 18 In my own personal experience of the Wages Council sectors, many employers applied the " going-rate " which for them was dictated by a curious combination of local market forces, the overall economic climate and haphazard negotiations. Many of them had never heard of the Wages Councils let alone statutory minimum rates and underpayment was in the vast majority of cases a question of ignorance rather than malice. Although Wages Council rates were legally binding, they were only minimums and rates actually paid were often higher. Retail, catering and hotels, clothing manufacturing and hairdressing were the lowest paying Council industries with the highest incidence of underpayment and where minimums were actual rates paid. 19 See for example Tony Blair's outline of " Labour's Agenda for Social and Economic Advancement The Guardian, Arguments for a National Minimum Wage. 13 Ibid. p. 60. 14 This is called the poverty trap. For further details see my article in The immediate post-war period would have been an ideal opportunity to introduce a national minimum wage but instead the transformation of the Trades Boards into Wages Councils was preferred. The 1970s Social Contract is another obvious example of how Labour " missed the bus, pp.114-123220, 1995.