ue to introduction of National minimum wage workers with lower pays have got increase in the hourly wage as the employers have to pay the legal wage. This has helped reduce the poverty as the workers receive significantly increased weekly income.
As the wage was determined it helped the government reduce poverty in the country. in uk 2007 -08, there were 13.5 million individuals in poverty. In the year 1998 1999 and 2004-05 labours saw the biggest decline. This decline came to an end during 2004-2005 and UK has seen a growth for three consecutive years.
On the other side that the poorest sections of society tend to rely on benefits as JSA & incapacity provided by the government of which 60% are unemployed. So these people are not benefited by NMW. Many of the second income earners can be well and would not be counted as poor, this is one of the limitations of NMW reducing poverty.