Opinion: Minimum wage rates and youth unemployment

By Josephine Grahl, UNISON’s national young members officer

UNISON’s young members have campaigned for years to get rid of the unfair minimum wage rates for young workers. Young workers don’t pay less for rent, bills or food – so why is it fair for them to get lower wages?

Workers aged 18 have the same responsibilities at work as older people – they might be giving complex care to vulnerable people, handing cash, using complicated equipment, or helping members of the public – and it’s just not fair to pay them less than their colleagues.

It was a victory for UNISON’s campaign when the Labour party promised in its manifesto to get rid of the unfair youth rates. The chancellor went on to ask the Low Pay Commission to look into the best way of doing this.

This April, the minimum wage for 18-20-year-olds will go up by 8.5% to £10.85 an hour – an 8.5% increase for all young workers on this rate. It’s still not enough but it’s a step in the right direction.

But there have been reports that the government might change its mind about getting rid of the youth rates, or delay doing this, saying that they’re worried about youth unemployment.

We’ve heard this before. In 1998, when the minimum wage was introduced, businesses said it would lead to rising unemployment. It wasn’t true then and since those days a lot of research has shown that minimum wages don’t cause unemployment.

But that’s not to say that there isn’t a lot that can be done to help young people into work, education and training. In January, UNISON contributed evidence to the Milburn review on young people and work, and we said that instead of making life worse for young workers, the government ought to restore and rebuild the services which help young people get a good start in life.

Supporting young people

Further and higher education are both struggling for money, with university departments closing and further education staff ‘brought to their knees’ by overwork and low morale.

Further education (FE) colleges can be a brilliant way for young people to gain skills, but in England the removal of the Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) in 2011 means that fewer students from disadvantaged backgrounds are enrolling and staying on in FE courses. The huge burden of debt for university students also makes young people think twice before studying for a degree.

UNISON research found that over a thousand youth centres closed in England and Wales between 2010 and 2023. Youth centres can be an amazing resource for young people, giving them opportunities to develop their talents and build independence – but more than 4 in 10 local authorities said they had no council-run youth centre in their area by the end of 2022/23.

Career services, which help guide young people into the world of work, came under similar pressure under austerity, with many schools providing no more than a half-hour meeting for students. We think these services should be properly funded, so that young people have the opportunities they need to develop and thrive.

Increasing numbers of young people are disabled or have health problems, and might need adjustments to fully participate in the world of work. UNISON spoke out strongly against proposals to cut disabled workers’ benefits and we’ve continued to call for the barriers faced by disabled people in the workplace to be torn down.

We want employers to take seriously their duty to provide reasonable adjustments, to remove the stigma against disabled people in the workplace, and more access to things like flexible working when this allows people to do their jobs more easily.

Today’s young people saw their education disrupted by a global pandemic, as they stayed at home to protect others. They deserve to start their working lives by being treated fairly and with dignity – not by being treated as ‘less than’ just because of their age.