The government has been urged to axe 8 an hour minimum wage rates for young people on Budget day after being accused of kicking “the can down the road” before making a decision.
It emerged at a committee meeting today that an economic impact assessment being undertaken by Indecon to examine the lowest statutory pay rates may take between six and nine months to report.
A Low Pay Commission report on the youth rates paid to those aged 19 and below recommended that they are abolished, earlier this year.
People Before Profit TD, Paul Murphy, told government officials at the Joint Committee on Enterprise, Trade and Employment that the government had already delayed a private members bill to abolish the rates by 12 months.
He said six months after the Low Pay Commission unanimously recommended that the rates are abolished, we are hearing that ESRI and Low Pay Commission reports on the issue are not good enough and we need a new economic impact assessment.
“Wouldn’t young people who are being exploited on very low wages be forgiven in thinking that this is continuing to kick the can down the road by the government and moving goalposts?” he said.
He said the need for an economic impact assessment had not been raised when the issue was first discussed.
Department of Enterprise officials said the Low Pay Commission believed more analysis is needed to assess issues including the regional effect of any change.
Claire Pyke, Assistant Principal Officer in the Labour Market and Skills...
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