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You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/mar/31/low-paid-young-people-pay-rise-national-living-wage
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| At last, some good news for the low-paid (unless you’re young) | At last, some good news for the low-paid (unless you’re young) |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| For people who value workers’ rights, 1 April marks a significant improvement in the lives of low-paid workers. However, for the young it is another brutal reminder of how little we value their contribution to society. While the labour of all other age groups will be rewarded with a wage that – even if only symbolically – is intended to provide enough to “live on”, workers under 25 will be waking up to a labour market that does not extend the same decency to them. | For people who value workers’ rights, 1 April marks a significant improvement in the lives of low-paid workers. However, for the young it is another brutal reminder of how little we value their contribution to society. While the labour of all other age groups will be rewarded with a wage that – even if only symbolically – is intended to provide enough to “live on”, workers under 25 will be waking up to a labour market that does not extend the same decency to them. |
| The introduction of the national living wage has done two things; it has symbolically detached workers aged 21-24 from the entitlements afforded their older colleagues, and it has added another rung to the ladder that must be scaled in order to achieve financial security and independence. While today the work of a 22-year-old is recognised as adult labour, with commensurate minimum earnings, tomorrow the national living wage will reduce its relative value and the workers’ comparative income. | The introduction of the national living wage has done two things; it has symbolically detached workers aged 21-24 from the entitlements afforded their older colleagues, and it has added another rung to the ladder that must be scaled in order to achieve financial security and independence. While today the work of a 22-year-old is recognised as adult labour, with commensurate minimum earnings, tomorrow the national living wage will reduce its relative value and the workers’ comparative income. |
| Related: The rebranded minimum wage is still not enough to live on | Gavin Kelly | Related: The rebranded minimum wage is still not enough to live on | Gavin Kelly |
| This is made more desperate by the terrible position young British workers are already in. Despite low levels of overall unemployment, running at 5.1% for the three months to January 2016, the unemployment rate for 16- to 24-year-olds was two and a half times higher, at 13.7%. And with the rising costs of university – one of the traditional alternatives to work or unemployment – British young people were already in a very precarious position, without having to wait until their 25th birthday to qualify for a minimum wage high enough to “live” on. | This is made more desperate by the terrible position young British workers are already in. Despite low levels of overall unemployment, running at 5.1% for the three months to January 2016, the unemployment rate for 16- to 24-year-olds was two and a half times higher, at 13.7%. And with the rising costs of university – one of the traditional alternatives to work or unemployment – British young people were already in a very precarious position, without having to wait until their 25th birthday to qualify for a minimum wage high enough to “live” on. |
| In the meantime, the young can expect their wages to flag. While for older workers the national living wage is expected to increase 25% to £9 per hour within four years, if previous “minimum wage” decisions over the past four years are anything to go by, young workers can expect to see an increase of 8%, to around £7.25 over the same period. | In the meantime, the young can expect their wages to flag. While for older workers the national living wage is expected to increase 25% to £9 per hour within four years, if previous “minimum wage” decisions over the past four years are anything to go by, young workers can expect to see an increase of 8%, to around £7.25 over the same period. |
| If the government had any intention that wages for younger people would keep pace with the “adult” workforce, they would have protected them within the national living wage proposals. That they chose not to speaks volumes, and means that the landscape for younger workers over the next few years looks grim. They will have to do less and less living with their wages, and more and more surviving. | If the government had any intention that wages for younger people would keep pace with the “adult” workforce, they would have protected them within the national living wage proposals. That they chose not to speaks volumes, and means that the landscape for younger workers over the next few years looks grim. They will have to do less and less living with their wages, and more and more surviving. |
| This will come as no surprise to anyone interested in the wages of the young. The minimum wage for British youth has been slowly but steadily shrinking. From the early days of the national minimum wage, the rates for young people aged 18-20 drifted from 89% of adult wages in 2000-01 to 79% of adult wages in 2015-16. Without an unexpected intervention, the national living wage will accelerate this drift. | This will come as no surprise to anyone interested in the wages of the young. The minimum wage for British youth has been slowly but steadily shrinking. From the early days of the national minimum wage, the rates for young people aged 18-20 drifted from 89% of adult wages in 2000-01 to 79% of adult wages in 2015-16. Without an unexpected intervention, the national living wage will accelerate this drift. |
| Minimum wages by age, as % of adult wage (predictions based on last 4 years NMW increases & govt announcements) pic.twitter.com/AvAvSdau2C | |
| This is not a worldwide trend. Where countries have a minimum wage that differs for the young, the age at which workers become entitled to full adult minimum wages has not increased, nor have they, on the whole, lost ground against the adult minimums in other countries. For example, federal minimum wage rates across Australia have over the last decade increased in ways that “preserve the existing relativities” between the youth and adult minimum wages, and adult wages begin at 21. In Ireland, minimum wage laws set the rates for those under 18 in relationship to adult wages, with a subsequent variation for those employed in their first two years of work. | This is not a worldwide trend. Where countries have a minimum wage that differs for the young, the age at which workers become entitled to full adult minimum wages has not increased, nor have they, on the whole, lost ground against the adult minimums in other countries. For example, federal minimum wage rates across Australia have over the last decade increased in ways that “preserve the existing relativities” between the youth and adult minimum wages, and adult wages begin at 21. In Ireland, minimum wage laws set the rates for those under 18 in relationship to adult wages, with a subsequent variation for those employed in their first two years of work. |
| Many other countries link age-based pay to training and inexperience. In France, under-18s with less than six months of experience, can be at 90% of minimum wage, and inexperienced under-17s receive 80%, but full minimum wage begins at 18. In the US, federal minimum wages enshrine a lower wage for workers under 20 only for the first 90 consecutive days of their employment. | Many other countries link age-based pay to training and inexperience. In France, under-18s with less than six months of experience, can be at 90% of minimum wage, and inexperienced under-17s receive 80%, but full minimum wage begins at 18. In the US, federal minimum wages enshrine a lower wage for workers under 20 only for the first 90 consecutive days of their employment. |
| The UK is alone among these countries in regulating for a reduced wage for 21- to 24-year-olds, regardless of their experience or training. There is no good argument for disadvantaging young workers in this way regardless of their experience. So, while 1 April may be a good day for workers, with many “winning” an increased wage, it marks a loss for the young who face another level of inequality, this time quantified in their pay packets. | The UK is alone among these countries in regulating for a reduced wage for 21- to 24-year-olds, regardless of their experience or training. There is no good argument for disadvantaging young workers in this way regardless of their experience. So, while 1 April may be a good day for workers, with many “winning” an increased wage, it marks a loss for the young who face another level of inequality, this time quantified in their pay packets. |