THE MINIMUM WAGE is the lowest rate of pay an employer can legally pay their workers.
It is currently set at 10.50 for each hour worked but this rate only applies for workers aged 20 and older. The law guarantees younger workers just a fraction of the minimum wage.
For young adults aged 19 the wage floor is 90% the minimum wage (9.45), for those aged 18 it is 80% (8.40) and for workers aged 17 and under it is 70% (7.35).
Some readers will no doubt be thinking that this is okay because young people aren’t generally responsible for the bills to run a home.
That they have fewer qualifications and are less productive. That they are not as reliable and they need more supervision. That paying them the full rate would bankrupt business and cost them their job.
These are the same arguments that were made in the 1970s in opposition to equal pay legislation. Today we would baulk at the idea of a business being permitted to have one rate of pay for men and another lower rate of pay for women who work side by side doing the same job. Yet we continue to condone this raw deal for young workers.
There is no justification for two people doing the same work and liable for the same taxes on their earnings being paid a different rate for the job just because of their age.
Thankfully many businesses voluntarily and by negotiation...
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