About 140,000 workers throughout Yorkshire and Humberside will be guaranteed higher pay from October.

The Government announced it had accepted the recommendations of the Low Pay Commission and would increase Minimum Wage rates for all ages.

The adult rate will rise from £5.05 to £5.35 an hour with the youth rate for workers aged 18 to 21 also increasing from £4.25 to £4.45. Employees aged 16 and 17 will see their hourly wage rise from £3 to £3.30.

Trade and Industry Secret-ary Alan Johnson said: "This latest rise will mean that about 1.3 million workers will get an increase in their wage from October, the majority of whom are low paid women.

"It is right that at a time when our economy is generally strong with the longest ever period of sustained growth and nearly 2.4 million jobs than 1997, that we continue to help those who get paid the least.

"The Commission shares our aim to help the low paid through an increased minimum wage, while making sure that we do not damage their employment prospects by setting it too high.

"They have concluded that there is no strong evidence to support the contention that the minimum wage has had any detrimental effect on employment levels in low paying sectors."

Bradford Chamber of Commerce chief executive Sandy Needham said: "Our members have not raised this as an issue although I suspect with the recent increase in national unemployment that the rate of increase will cause concern for some."