The current minimum wage for workers age 21 and older in Britain is 6.50 pounds, or about $10, an hour. Beginning in April, companies will have to pay at least £7.20 to employees age 26 or older, an hourly rate that will gradually rise to £9 by the end of the decade.

“Businesses are responsible for making that happen, and today I’m announcing how we will make sure they do,” Cameron wrote in an article in The Times of London published Tuesday. “The national living wage will only work if it is properly enforced.”

The prime minister’s announcement comes as the fight for higher wages at the bottom of the income ladder has been gaining traction in parts of the United States, including New York and California, and in several other European countries, like Germany.

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