Last week it was announced that the minimum wage for those under 21 will be frozen leaving those 16-18 years old to live off a jaw dropping £3.68 an hour, and 18-20 years old on a pitiful £4.98 an hour, not even a fiver. The older generation however once again benefit with an 11p rise in the minimum wage to £6.19 an hour from October.
I wonder if under 21 years old will be given 'inflation exempt' cards to substitute for their out dated wage? This government is relentless in its unabashed attacks on the young...do they not realise - it's them that will be picking your nursing home.
Not only are over a million young people out of work, or not even in education or training (NEET), but now the government has given even less incentive to find menial work, for any depressed young job seekers it's a kick in the teeth from a spiked, steel toe-capped boot.
Working in a shoe shop as a Christmas temp two years ago in Bluewater shopping centre, I was 19 and worked full-time, the shop was always manic with Christmas shoppers. Alongside me were various 16 year old workers in college, subsequently they were much less likely to get full day shifts, instead given 4 hour shifts. Before tax, £3.68 x 4 hours is £14.72, take away the "It's nearly a fiver just to get the bus here and back, it's hardly worth it." and then tax...that 16 year old has put off hanging out with friends, doing coursework, spending time with family for...about £8? Would you hand out C.Vs attend an interview, or even get out of bed to work in a shop that gave you £8 a 4 hour shift take home pay?
Then again, in such a climate of dreaded unemployment, maybe you would. How convenient for the millionaire that owns this shoe shop range.
Vince Cable, who made the announcement, says the government elected to freeze the minimum wage because "Raising the youth rates would have been of little value to young people if it meant it was harder for them to get a job in the long run."*
It is not going to encourage employers to take on young workers by freezing the minimum wage. This degradation will just enforce the general opinion of employers, and the already victimised and disheartened young unemployed, that young workers are simply not worth anything. This attitude needs to stop, young people are fresh, open minded, energetic and full of ideas that can help YOUR business, so why are they not being paid the wage their talent deserves?
The defence given for this reason is that it will make it easier for young people to find work in the long run, encouraging employers to take on cheapy-cheap suspiciously slave-type young labour.
Cable claimed it had been "A very hard decision", which would surely propose mountains of contradicting opinions and evidence to make it a hard decision, right? Except there is no evidence to suggest freezing the minimum wage will make it easier for young people to find jobs, and none published to say raising it will discourage employers from hiring young people. It seems the only difficulty involving this decision is justifying the outright attack and prejudice to young people - with absolutely no evidence for the decision!
Another major downfall of this minimum wage freeze is additional encouragement for the incredibly alarming, frightening culture of complete acceptance in the exploitation of young people, just because of the economic climate/job market that is prominently emerging. First, the not-allowed-to-vote age group has to pay triple university fees, has college grants cut and now young people should hardly bother going to work. Again I plead and implore this government, is it any wonder there are record numbers of young NEET's which have never been seen before? But more importantly, who's going pay off the older generations debts? - The uneducated, inexperienced, poverty stricken generation you have tied up in financial woe, and inexcusably burdened with your debt? When I am in debt, I work hard to pay it off. I don't go out and rob a kid.
Why is there an age measured minimum wage in the first place? Surely a 16 year old doing exactly the same job as a 21 year old, should be paid the same? My view is, the assumption 16 year old workers somehow don't need to be paid as much - is reason to pay them less for the same amount of work. In which case, lets start asking employees how much rent they pay, whether they get the occasional tenner from relatives, have rich parents, or are parents themselves - surely we should be fixing rates of pay for all these factors, as even though one single 25 year old is getting £8 an hour, the one who is nearly homeless with a partner and kids to feed should get £15 an hour for exactly the same amount of work, under the current age (thus assumed circumstances) restricting wages premise. It just doesn't make sense to pay someone less simply because of their age. It is widely accepted ageism. When equal wages for both sexes, races and sexualities is strived for, why do we complacently accept this outrageous inequality?
When I was 16-18, I was constantly enraged with the minimum wage. I had to pay for rent, food, driving lessons, train fare, going out, pretty much the same as everyone else. What about young parents bringing up children? Why should an 18 year old couple be paid less to bring up their family than a 25 or 30 year old couple, who are doing EXACTLY the same job? I had to turn down many job offers when I was younger because it simply would not pay my rent. Being young and plucky, I would most certainly attest that I did as much work as everyone else, sometimes more as "you're young and energetic, you run up the stairs". This attitude that the young don't have children or partners, or other family to support, or rent/mortgages to pay, or that they are simply worthless and can work for insanely, unsustainable low amounts has got to stop - or don't come crying to them because they decided the future of your retirement will be spent in an awful nursing home - it's not like they're millionaires. And you chose the future of the youth to be spent in crippling financial burdens.
*http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/work-blog/2012/mar/19/minimum-wage-freeze-help-young-work
I wonder if under 21 years old will be given 'inflation exempt' cards to substitute for their out dated wage? This government is relentless in its unabashed attacks on the young...do they not realise - it's them that will be picking your nursing home.
Not only are over a million young people out of work, or not even in education or training (NEET), but now the government has given even less incentive to find menial work, for any depressed young job seekers it's a kick in the teeth from a spiked, steel toe-capped boot.
Working in a shoe shop as a Christmas temp two years ago in Bluewater shopping centre, I was 19 and worked full-time, the shop was always manic with Christmas shoppers. Alongside me were various 16 year old workers in college, subsequently they were much less likely to get full day shifts, instead given 4 hour shifts. Before tax, £3.68 x 4 hours is £14.72, take away the "It's nearly a fiver just to get the bus here and back, it's hardly worth it." and then tax...that 16 year old has put off hanging out with friends, doing coursework, spending time with family for...about £8? Would you hand out C.Vs attend an interview, or even get out of bed to work in a shop that gave you £8 a 4 hour shift take home pay?
Then again, in such a climate of dreaded unemployment, maybe you would. How convenient for the millionaire that owns this shoe shop range.
Vince Cable, who made the announcement, says the government elected to freeze the minimum wage because "Raising the youth rates would have been of little value to young people if it meant it was harder for them to get a job in the long run."*
It is not going to encourage employers to take on young workers by freezing the minimum wage. This degradation will just enforce the general opinion of employers, and the already victimised and disheartened young unemployed, that young workers are simply not worth anything. This attitude needs to stop, young people are fresh, open minded, energetic and full of ideas that can help YOUR business, so why are they not being paid the wage their talent deserves?
The defence given for this reason is that it will make it easier for young people to find work in the long run, encouraging employers to take on cheapy-cheap suspiciously slave-type young labour.
Cable claimed it had been "A very hard decision", which would surely propose mountains of contradicting opinions and evidence to make it a hard decision, right? Except there is no evidence to suggest freezing the minimum wage will make it easier for young people to find jobs, and none published to say raising it will discourage employers from hiring young people. It seems the only difficulty involving this decision is justifying the outright attack and prejudice to young people - with absolutely no evidence for the decision!
Another major downfall of this minimum wage freeze is additional encouragement for the incredibly alarming, frightening culture of complete acceptance in the exploitation of young people, just because of the economic climate/job market that is prominently emerging. First, the not-allowed-to-vote age group has to pay triple university fees, has college grants cut and now young people should hardly bother going to work. Again I plead and implore this government, is it any wonder there are record numbers of young NEET's which have never been seen before? But more importantly, who's going pay off the older generations debts? - The uneducated, inexperienced, poverty stricken generation you have tied up in financial woe, and inexcusably burdened with your debt? When I am in debt, I work hard to pay it off. I don't go out and rob a kid.
Why is there an age measured minimum wage in the first place? Surely a 16 year old doing exactly the same job as a 21 year old, should be paid the same? My view is, the assumption 16 year old workers somehow don't need to be paid as much - is reason to pay them less for the same amount of work. In which case, lets start asking employees how much rent they pay, whether they get the occasional tenner from relatives, have rich parents, or are parents themselves - surely we should be fixing rates of pay for all these factors, as even though one single 25 year old is getting £8 an hour, the one who is nearly homeless with a partner and kids to feed should get £15 an hour for exactly the same amount of work, under the current age (thus assumed circumstances) restricting wages premise. It just doesn't make sense to pay someone less simply because of their age. It is widely accepted ageism. When equal wages for both sexes, races and sexualities is strived for, why do we complacently accept this outrageous inequality?
When I was 16-18, I was constantly enraged with the minimum wage. I had to pay for rent, food, driving lessons, train fare, going out, pretty much the same as everyone else. What about young parents bringing up children? Why should an 18 year old couple be paid less to bring up their family than a 25 or 30 year old couple, who are doing EXACTLY the same job? I had to turn down many job offers when I was younger because it simply would not pay my rent. Being young and plucky, I would most certainly attest that I did as much work as everyone else, sometimes more as "you're young and energetic, you run up the stairs". This attitude that the young don't have children or partners, or other family to support, or rent/mortgages to pay, or that they are simply worthless and can work for insanely, unsustainable low amounts has got to stop - or don't come crying to them because they decided the future of your retirement will be spent in an awful nursing home - it's not like they're millionaires. And you chose the future of the youth to be spent in crippling financial burdens.
*http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/work-blog/2012/mar/19/minimum-wage-freeze-help-young-work
No comments:
Post a Comment