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
More on
I live in Glasgow . I would like to work as a taxi telephonist for Glasgow Private Hire Im 16 Would They Take Me On ?
Is Most Jobs For 16+ Or 18+ , If Its 18 Why Are They Giving Out National Insurance Numbers At 16 Then ?
Well i get 4 pound an hour and i’m 15. HA!
Why is it that not only is the hairdressing industry paying less than minimum wage to 16yr olds they also use them for slave labour as in a weeks trial is unpaid, surely this is not legal? A trial is working, is it not?, not termed voluntary work therefore they should be paid, has any1 else come across this?
I’m aged 17, And left College at 16. (Yes i did a year but could not bare the school life feeling we was told we wouldnt get) I got myself a job and was earning £5 an hour. When the new owners of the buisness arrived my wage was put to £4.50 because i was 16 yet co-workers aged 18 went up. I worked 35 hours a week and got just under £158. Personally i struggled on this, the government assume all 16/17/18yo’s still live at home, sponging off our parents but how wrong are they. People who earn more money than i do are struggling and i’m in the same situation earning less.
I am 17 and i am currently working at sports direct on £4.00 a hour, I have been working there since nov 08 but they have not given me shifts for the past 6 weeks so i have no wage, when i do get my wage at the end of the month I am paying emergancy tax!, to be honest I do not understand this, a small part-time job because I am at 6th form and I hardly get any wage, then when I do I get taxed. I think that something should be done because when teenagers are wanting a job there is no where that is recruiting, but then when no one needs a job there is lots avaliable.
Another thing I don’t understand is why you need a Cv say if you are applying to work at morrisons to stack shelfs.
Ive just started a new part time job in a restaurant, im paid £4.50 an hour, i applied for a weekend job, but because im on holidays after finishing my GCSEs i managed to get a job on tuesdays, wednesdays, thursdays and fridays as well. Ive been looking for a job since i was 13 and its really not easy! Most employers want people over the age of 16, and im very lucky with how much i get paid, so basically just keep looking for a job, any money is better than none, but i would never finish school at 16 because the pay is just not worth it! the qualifications from studying are much better 🙂
I think that this is horrific! I am 16 and I do lots of quite tiring jobs, for very little payment. I think that it should at the very least be raised to £4 an hour! Especially if people are getting paid more to do exactly the same job as you!
I am one of the lucky ones. I am 16 and have got my first job at Brunel University. It entails serving food, cleaning up and other various things. It’s not a bad job and I get paid £6.51 an hour and get free meals.
Quite frankly, I think the minimum wage is absolutely ridiculous. I’m 16 and I don’t understand why it is that people over 18 get paid a substanstil amount more than people younger who are doing the exact same job, especially when 15 and 16 year olds are classed as adults on trains, busus and at all cinemas and are forced to pay the adult fare. To be able to afford the rip off that is train and bus fares, we deserve to be paid that little bit more. The cut-off age for “adult” should be one age other than several, it would make things a whole lot easier not to mention fairer when you take wages into account.
I am 19 years old and currently studying a degree, renting a house and trying to keep a part time job. I find it impossible to see how that would make me considered a child. With the minium wage as low as it is for under 21 I dont see how any young person is meant to have a positive attitude towards aiming to strive for the best… Beacuse if you cant pay the rent on the way then ur never going to be able to get past the first hurdle. I think there should be one flat rate for all ages. If two people are doing the same job then why should one get paid more then the other just because they are a few years older, at one point women were considered the lesser of the sexes and it was thought they were not worth the same wage as a man. Have we now changed this prejudice from different pay for different sexes to different pay based purely on different ages? should the actual amount of work and the effort not be put into consideration?!
Well i’m 16 and have 3 jobs and still at school i have coached gymnastics since i was 14 for £5 an hour coach trampolining for £6.5? an hour and work at a shop for £4.6 an hour.I consider myself quite lucky¬
May I say you 16yrs old who are moaning that you should earn the same as Adults, the reason you don.t is because you are not experienced and can not be left to work on your own intiative, although i respect some young people have a very good work ethic, the majority of young people unfortunatley do not! respect the fact that someone is giving you a chance and is willing to pay you minimum wage, they could employ a polish worker who will work twice as hard for half as much and not complain!!! At 16yrs old you are very cheeky if you honestly think you should earn the same as an adult!!( go to college and improve your earning prospects there) then you might be worth it ! however by the time you have graduated you will be an ADULT!!! so you will earn the same as your counterparts, but just maybe you will earn more because your qualifications will set you above other employees ( should they then be paid the same as you or more based on their age? or do you feel you should earn more because you have spent 4-5 years improving your prospects for little or no money? whilst they were earning min wage? grow up kids welcome to the REAL WORLD and be grateful for any work and wages you receive in this current economic climate, YOU ARE VERY LUCKY!!!!!!
Kim knight well im 16 i do bar support in a Night club, they think im older than i am and i get £5/75 per hour. For the work and stupid hours i do to bring home around £100 a week i think is ridiculous, i work a lot harder than you do for your money guranteed and get treat a lot worste for it. why are people lucky for working for the sake of £3.50? would you? i want to be rich not giving up plans for the sake of £10 pound i would rather sell drugs
Extending the minimum wage to 16-18 year olds is a good thing I think