The minimum wage for workers aged 16-18 is £4.55 (April 2020-21)
For workers, aged 18-20 is currently £6.45 (April 2020-21)
Readers Question: What are the minimum wage rates for 16, 17 and 18-year-olds. Should the minimum wage be increased? Should there be a minimum wage rate for children under 16?
Minimum Wage Rates from April 2020
- £8.72 – 25 and over
- £8.20 – Age 21-24
- £6.45 – Age 18-20
- £4.55 – Under 18
- £4.15 – Apprentice rate. (An apprentice means the firm has to devote a certain time to training the worker. Traditionally apprentices get lower pay to compensate the firms’ cost of training them.
Can 13, 14, and 15-year-olds get a minimum wage rate?
No, the minimum wage rate only applies to workers who are 16 and above.
The youngest age your child can work part-time is 13 years old, with the exception of children involved in: television, drama, film. [1. Child employment Direct gov]
Do young workers benefit from a national minimum wage?
Benefits of Min Wage
- A minimum wage is an effective tool for increasing wages of the lowest paid group of workers.
- Since the minimum wage has been introduced in 1997, unemployment has fallen, suggesting fears over real-wage unemployment have been misplaced.
- Minimum wages can increase labour productivity. Workers can feel more motivated with higher wages (efficiency wage theory). Also, if firms have to pay more, then they have an incentive to invest in workers and capital to increase labour productivity.
- In an era of low real wage growth, the minimum wage has played an increasing role in causing higher living standards.
Concerns over minimum wage
- An argument advanced is national minimum wage increases costs for firms and this can discourage employment opportunities. If the minimum wage rate rises too fast, it could cause unemployment in the future.
- The gap between workers under 18 and over 25 means that firms have a cost incentive to substitute older workers for younger workers. In labour intensive industries (e.g. fast food) firms may prefer to give longer hours to the youngest workers because they are nearly 50% cheaper than mature workers.
- Blackmarket. Another issue is that a legal minimum may encourage firms to pay young workers in cash and avoid legal restrictions.
- Regional inequality of wages. A national minimum wage can cause unemployment in the northeast (where wages are low) but have little effect in London, where wages are higher.
Does a minimum Wage encourage Labour market Participation?
- In theory, increasing the minimum wage for 16-18 year old workers would increase the incentive to join the labour market because work will become more attractive compared to studying at school and not earning.
- However, the minimum wage for 16 and 17 year-olds is still relatively low. It is £4.20 for people under 18. Therefore, the benefit of working on the minimum wage may still seem insignificant compared to the benefits from studying and getting qualifications which will enable higher lifetime earnings.
- Also, many 16 and 17 year-olds probably live rent free therefore there is not the same economic necessity to go out and get a job.
- Personally, I think the effect of a minimum wage for 16-18 year olds is relatively insignificant, I can’t think of many students who would give up A-levels just so that they could go and work in McDonald’s for £4.20 an hour.
- What is most likely is that there will be an increase in the participation of young workers doing part-time jobs in addition to studying full time.
Case for Increasing the Minimum Wage Rate
- Unfair firms can pay a lower wage rate to young workers doing the same job as people over 21.
- Efficiency Wage Theory – the idea if you pay a higher wage, you will get greater motivation and labour productivity.
Problems of Increasing the Minimum Wage Rate for young workers
- Could lead to unemployment and fewer job opportunities. Many firms may be unwilling to employ workers if there is a significant increase in the minimum wage rate. This would particularly affect labour-intensive industries like hairdressers and cafes.
- Arguably young workers lack experience, and so firms need to spend time and money on training them. Therefore a lower minimum wage rate is justified to pay for the costs of on-the-job training.
How Does the UK compare to other countries?
The UK minimum wage compares well compared to other countries like the US, Spain and Portugal, but still lower than some EU countries. International minimum wage rates
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my son works 11 hours a week because this is the kind of work he wants to do i think it discusting they work for so little he brings in 130 a week working on a demolition company and he loves it i think the goverment should put this this min wage up it might make half these young kids get a job instead of dossing all the time
What about 13 year olds who do paper rounds, delivering very early in the morning and straight after school 7 days a week for a set amount per paper delivered?
i worked from 8.30-5.30/6pm 5 days a week this summer for £80 a week in a hairdressers, with a 30 min break whenever i could grab it. this is a fixed amount, even if i worked an hour over because we still had clients.
is this wrong? i roughly calculated it was aroun 1.70-1.80 an hour. email me opinions on [email protected]
Aimee
we work in the Home Bargains for £3.85 per hour. we work on a till for 9 hours on a saturday and 6 hours on a sunday. we are both 17 years old.
i am 13 and do not yet have a job and i am wondering how much adverage i will be payed an hour for a paperround
My niece works for a big international hairdresses.She works from nine in the morning till six at night with 30 min break.My niece earns £20, she is only 15.When i questioned the manager the reply i got you should be made up we let her work here. This cheap labour should be stopped.
i have just got a job at a pub run by the weatherspoons industry.
I turned 16 in april and wanted a job desperatly as i hate not being able to afford to go out on the weekends and not being able to pay for simple things such as food, the cinema and other small things. Now i will be working 5 hours friday night, 9 hours saturday and 9 hours sunday, the most i believe i will earn is 108 pound a week. The least on minumum wage is 80 sumthing pound.
Tbh im not surprised people turn to drug dealing and other petty crimes. This amount of money is extortionate.
If i go to the cinema im classed as an adult at the age of 15 which costs me 6.50 per movie. If i want fags or alcohol or to go to a night club i must be an adult which is 18, to catch a train or bus im classed as an adult at 16. But yet my min wage is 3.53 because im NOT an adult. Well if im not a adult why am i paying an adult train or bus fair and an adult cinema ticket but i can go to an adult pub or buy adult fags or alcohol.
To be an adult it should be ONE age not several and i think this wage is disgracefull tbh.
Hi there i’m working a part time job in a restruant and getting paid £3.53 an hour and i’am 16 years of age. However, my fellow co-worker who has just turned 17 years of age is getting paid £4.00 every hour and he is doing the exact same job as i’am. This can not be right!
Could someone advise me on minimum wage for a 16 year old and also advise me about this problem with my fellow co-worker getting paid more than me.
Thankyou,
Will
I work at primark and we’re on £3.90 an hour (I’m 17) yet people at 18 who do the same job as me are on £5.20, hardly seems fair as we do the same job!!!
You english are very complanin about money per hour. Be happy i get $1 per lady underwear even though 2 hours of creation. Whilst i make the underwear at this low wage to support a family of 6 you get £3.90 to sell this!!
I’m 16 and work at a hotel for 3.53 an hour but i am the only waitress in the restaurant and having to wait on around 30 odd people a night and then waking up and doing the same. Also if i do get help i have to tell them what to do i have been working in hotels since i was 7 as my mum and dad had one so surely with my experience and the amount i have to do i should get a lot more correct or worng? also if something goes wrong in the restaurant and its not at my hands i still get the blame1
I used to work on a chicken farm collecting eggs etc. I was 15 at the time and only got paid 2.50 and hour. I would work for about 12-16 hours a weekend earning on average just 25.00. The pay was terrible considering the job contained health risks. Now at 16 when I get a job any money greater than 2.50 is welcomed and I think that we as a whole should be thank ful for what we do get paid, anything is better than nothing.
3.53 it not enoughmoney for peopleof that age