Youth pay rates should be re-introduced

Employers warned in 2006 that abolishing youth rates would end up hurting the very people needing help, says David Lowe, Employment Services Manager for the Employers & Manufacturers Association.

“Now, with 27.5 per cent of the unemployed aged under 19 and rising, youth rates should be re-introduced,” he said.

“Though youth rates are no silver bullet, an employer with a choice between an experienced worker and an inexperienced worker will take on the experienced worker every time.

“Its not just about cost; young people come with lack of experience and skills as well as ‘teenage issues’. Employers want a mix of youth and experience in their workplaces.

“Unless there is some incentive for an employer to take on the additional issues of employing a youth worker, young people will continue to be over represented in the unemployment numbers.

“Independent research in 2006 from Pacheco found job opportunities would reduce by nearly 20 per cent for all teenagers if youth rates were abolished. That has turned out to be conservative.

“Over the past year youth unemployment has gone from 25.2 to 27.5 per cent of those unemployed.

“The abolition of youth rates was a fair weather idea. Now it’s pretty obvious why we had youth rates in the first place.”