Younger workers 'deserve fair pay'
Mar 30 2009
The Trades Union Congress (TUC) has called for improved pay for younger workers.
At the organisation's Young Members Conference, assistant general secretary Kay Carberry highlights the fact that the adult minimum wage is only applicable to workers aged over 22 and suggests it should be extended to include 18-year-olds.
Carberry comments: 'We need to increase pay rates for those at [the] bottom of the labour market – like the seven in ten 18 to 21-year-old workers who are currently in low-paid jobs and who account for over a fifth of the low-paid workforce.'
She suggests that increasing wages for the UK's lowest-paid employees could help the country emerge from the recession, as lifting disposable incomes in this group is one of the best ways to boost demand in an economy.
In addition, the expert claims that younger workers are seeing their pension plans damaged through lower wages and companies closing off their final salary schemes to new entrants.
The TUC is also recommending the exemption from the minimum wage for apprentices to be scrapped to avoid them being taken advantage of and to increase the number of people completing their courses.
Earlier this month, the group advised the government to ignore calls from business to freeze the national minimum wage and recommended that it is increased.
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