Minimum wage in the UK
The introduction of the mininum wage was a landmark in UK employment history.

Wage winners and losers
Wages in the UK vary enormously, from the extremes of sewing machinists earning �3.15 an hour to SmithKline Beecham's boss Jan Leschly, who rakes in �10,500 an hour.

Impact on jobs
BBC economics reporter Chris Giles writes about the heated debate among economists as to how much Britain's first national minimum wage will impact on jobs.

Q & A: Making sense of the minimum wage
BBC Economics Correspondent Evan Davis gives clear answers to complex questions about the minimum wage.

Policing the employers
Some companies may not relish the prospect of paying workers the minimum wage. But swingeing fines and prosecution await any who try to slip through the net.

Making motherhood pay
One of the aims of the minimum wage is to get people off benefit and into work. But in the reality of the workplace, there are many who, like even with the new measure, find staying at home the more lucrative option.

The international approach
Next month the new National Minimum Wage will take effect in the UK. How does it compare with that in other countries?

Just a beginning
Rodney Bickerstaffe, general secretary of the public service union Unison, hails the introduction of the minimum wage but promises to carry on campaigning for a "living wage" for the low paid.

Challenge for the future
John Monks, General Secretary of the TUC says its members should be justly proud of their persisitent campaigning for a minimum wage but that now is no time to rest on their laurels.

'Victory for small business'
The levels set for the minimum wage are a victory for small businesses, according to the chairman of the policy unity of the Federation of Small Businesses, Brian Prime.

Stranglehold on prosperity
Dr Ian Peters, Deputy-Director General of the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) says that the minimum wage risks sending British business under in a tidal wave of red tape.

High hopes for fair pay
As British industry and its workforce brace themselves for the National Minimum Wage the BBC's Industry Correspondent Stephen Evans asks whether their hopes and fears about its impact can be realised.

Small profit in cleaning up
BBC New Online gains the reaction to the government's new pay meausures from some low-paid cleaners in London.

Will the sweatshops pay?
A national minimum wage is being introduced, but will it change what happens for thousands of people working behind the factory walls and windows of the fashion industry in the East End?