Union leaders are calling for the national minimum wage to be increased to between £5 and £5.30 an hour by autumn 2004 - with the full rate offered to all workers from the age of 18.

The current minimum rate for adults (22+) is £4.10, rising to £4.20 in October. Younger workers, from 18 to 21, are entitled to £3.60, also rising by 10p on October 1.

The TUC, which agreed the new £5 to £5.30 target at a meeting of its 70-strong ruling General Council, is calling on Chancellor Gordon Brown to be bold instead of prudent when it comes to wages.

But is a fiver an hour enough?

Or is it simply too much for employers to afford?

We asked our reader panel for their views.

Dorothy Dawson, left, 63, is chairwoman of York Conservative Supper Club and is a member of the Speakers' Club, which was once a men-only organisation

"I think the minimum wage should be set at £5. When you consider the price of things now and the rising cost of living, anything less is just unrealistic. The top earners in the country get £60,000+ a year - four pound something an hour is pitiful in comparison.

The minimum wage does not affect men as much because they generally get paid more. It is only fair that a man and a woman doing the same job should be paid the same wage. Unfortunately, in modern workplaces no-one knows what anyone else is earning, so it's difficult to ensure this happens.

The only problem I can see with raising the minimum wage is how to fund it. We need money for the NHS and for education, but we also need to pay people a decent wage. Having said that, employers predicted all sorts of problems when the minimum wage was first introduced and we don't seem to have suffered too much. If they could afford it once, they can afford it again."

Pamela Egan, right, 57, has three children, one stepdaughter and three grandchildren, and rents out classic cars

"Women in particular have to earn a fair old whack to be able to afford to go out to work. If they can't afford child care and the costs of actually getting to work, they might as well stay at home and claim benefits. But this isn't fair on those who actively want to work, who want the social contact and who enjoy earning a living. Wages should be high enough to give them a fair choice.

Raising the minimum wage by a few pence is pointless. It has to be a fairly big rise to make any difference at all. Employers will probably argue that raising the minimum wage - especially for young, inexperienced workers - will make them take on fewer people.

But to pay people any less than £5 is just an insult. Would they work on a supermarket till day in and day out for less than £5 an hour? I don't think so."

Updated: 12:24 Tuesday, August 13, 2002