article_snippet: Firms' costs are falling thanks to the strongest economic growth for seven years and the lowest inflation for more than a decade.
article_snippet: The number of people on the national minimum wage has doubled since The number of people on the national minimum wage was introduced 15 years ago and is now the pay rate for one in 20 workers, according to the Resolution Foundation think tank.
article_snippet: Around 1.2 million employees earn the legal minimum wage compared with just over 600,000 in 1999.
article_snippet: A further 1.3m workers are clustered close to the minimum wage - earning within 50p of the minimum level.
article_snippet: A series of below-inflation increases over recent years had meant the real-terms value of the wage had stalled.