Young people’s wages may be supporting wider family household costs, independent teenage living, or study – all of which would be affected if young people earn lower wages.
These are the conclusions that social justice agency Caritas has arrived at as a result in-depth interviews with four young people currently living and working in the kind of situation that would mean they will receive lower wages if the proposed “starting out” wage legislation is adopted by Parliament.
Caritas spoke against the Government’s “starting-out” minimum wage proposal at the Transport and Industrial relations select committee last Thursday. It also expressed disappointment at Parliament’s defeat by 61 votes to 58 of legislation that would have given greater protection to New Zealand’s youngest workers.
‘Making the labour of young people cheaper will increase the vulnerability of the entire youth workforce,’ Caritas research and advocacy coordinator Lisa Beech told the Select Committee considering the Minimum Wage (Starting-Out-Wage) Amendment Bill.
The government’s own calculations show most new jobs for lower-waged 16-17 year-olds will come primarily from substitution of jobs for 18-19 year-olds . ‘Displacing one group of vulnerable workers with another is not job creation,’ said Beech.
Source
- Caritas.org.nz
- Image: BDS
