Do youth wages create jobs — or slaves?
By Mel Bull Young workers in Australia are discriminated against; because of their age, they are paid less for work of equal value. Reith and Howard claim that this gets young people a foot in the door and reduces unemployment. But do youth wages create jobs or slaves? International labour standards and human rights conventions are against workplace discrimination, including on the grounds of age. The Australian Industrial Relations Act (1988) included age as a prohibited reason for discrimination. The reality, however, is that junior rates of pay have continually been exempted from anti-discrimination legislation. An estimated 56% of all people under 21 years are employed on junior wage rates, the retail, food and clerical industries being the largest employers of teenager workers. There is evidence of a significant decline in the average real income of 15-19 year olds since the late 1980s, and an overall decline in junior wages relative to adults’ from approximately 55% to 47%. In so
