Why young workers could get a pay boost | The Business

Hardworking young people are closely watching a key wage case that could boost their pay, while businesses warn it could cause a collapse in employment. “Junior pay rates” apply to people below the age of 21 in agreements covering sectors that employ a lot of young people in retail, fast food and pharmacy. Those discounts mean 18-year-olds are paid 70 per cent of the award rate, 80 per cent for 19-year-olds and 90 per cent for 20-year-olds. The Fair Work Commission has finished hearings but has not announced when it will hand down its decision. Advocates argue that at 17 you can enlist in the armed forces, and at 18 you are legally entitled to vote, drive, smoke and drink alcohol. Ai Group’s Innes Willox says any big shift that increases staff costs will have dire consequences for young people. “Young people won’t be hired for jobs, and that will be to the detriment of them,” he said. Sally McManus, secretary of the Australian Council of Trade Unions compared the cheaper rates paid to juniors — and employers’ fears of change — to the situation more than 50 years ago, when paying women less for doing the same work as men was first outlawed.

Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that Ben Walker still earned less due to his age. This has been edited to clarify that he is now paid the full adult rate, as per Woolworths’ policy for 20-year-olds.

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