Stakeholder: Fair Work Comission
The national minimum wage is the minimum amount an employee can make that is not covered by an award or an agreement. Different countries set their minimum wage rates to be the minimum amount a person can make in order to survive in however that country’s economy allows. This paper will analyse the ways in which the minimum wage rates in Australia do not benefit today’s youth. It will show how the minimum wage rates contribute to older people missing out on jobs, less of a skill set among young people, and youth homelessness. It will be argued that minimum wage rates should be set at the same rate for people once they have reached the age of adulthood. Young people between the ages of 14 to 17 should also receive an increase in minimum wage rates, so that they may become more financially stable.
In the country of Australia there …show more content…
Some people are concerned that if we were to change the minimum wage rates for young people, it would cause less young people to be hired, and not allowing them to gain any work experience. It has been concluded that raising the minimum wage does in fact reduce youth employment rates, but does not affect labor force participation. (Ragan 1977) Businesses do not want to hire young people for higher rates because they are used to paying them for low wages, but that can also contribute to the fact that adults are losing out on jobs to young people. In order to solve this problem, last year in the UK minimum wage rates for young people were frozen, thinking that this would help create more jobs for young people. When asking the vice chair of the British Youth Council how he feels about the wage freeze, he said that it does nothing to benefit young people, we might as well be asking them to work for free. (Children & Young People Now