Is £3.64 an hour too much to pay a 17 year old?

[Gromit]

// Firms may be reluctant to create jobs by recruiting inexperienced staff because they are put off by the increased wage bill, the Low Pay Commission has suggested. //

Official figures last month showed that almost 1 million of the 2.5 million people officially counted as unemployed in Britain are aged between 16 and 24.

[alid5]

Minimum wage for a 17 £3.68
check this link http://www.lowpay.gov.uk/

[youngmafbog]

Twp 'p' extra? Whoopy do.

Gromit, this is where we have a big problem. £3.64 is simply not enough, unless it is used in conjunction with training (ie an apprenticeship) which should be an approved scheme. On top of this of course if you worked hard and overtime you could end up paying tax and NI on it, so the attraction of doing nothing and getting a handout must be high.

Of course part of the problem is the influx of foreign workers who need no training but are willing to work hard for a low wage, as an employer why risk the hassle of training someone not only in the work skill but also in life skills in the transition from school to the workplace?

What can we do? Probably nothing until we leave the EU.

[Oneeyedvic]

Don't forget holiday pay and NI contributions from employers - it is therefore more expensive than £3.68 per hour

More of the problem is the benefits system. I have had one employee who said that she was told by the job centre that if she did less than 16 hours a week, she was better off on Job Seekers.

I have another person who was hired for the summer. Now that his contract has finished we could use him for a few jobs here and there but since he is on job seekers, he can't work odd hours - something that most small businesses do actually want.

[flip_flop]

I appreciate time dims the memory, but when I was a student I worked part-time in a Safeway supermarket, and I'm pretty sure I was earning about £3.00 per hour - this was between 1990 and 1993.

So no, I don't think £3.64 is too much - I think it is too little.

[jno]

I suppose it is possible that foreigners work cheaply in establishments like this one (which I encountered last week in the princely playground of Hvar)

http://imageshack.us/...mages/69/gromits.jpg/

[boxtops]

LOL jno, I'm not the only one who thinks of AB when I'm on holiday, then!!

[albaqwerty]

mine was on £3.73 an hour however, he starts at 6.30 AM

[NOX]

All my staff regardless of age start at the minimum wage for adults. I wouldn't sleep at night if I paid anyone £3.64, nor would I expect them to be good, honest loyal employees for that amount- you tend to reap what you sow with people in my experience.

[modeller]

This is not a new problem .There was a time when apprentices and trainees were paid whilst learning the trade/ profession and were given a day off each week . Some courses were 50/50 ie. half the time learning the skills and the other half was spent in the local college.
During that time the apprentices/trainees did not earn what they were paid .
We employed several apps. and they cost us money for the first 3 years of their 5 year course. However the system worked well for many years but then the unions insisted they should be paid 80% of the rate for a qualified people ,who was working a full week. The result was we had to reduce the number of trainees.
This was repeated throughout the country and thousands of trainee jobs were axed.

[Gromit]

Thanks everyone for your answers, and thanks to jno for that excellent photo.

[modeller]

nox// All my staff regardless of age start at the minimum wage for adults. //
Doing what ?

Steve // No its not too much, its slave labour//
Are you putting no value on experience and hard work.?

If the work is stacking shelves in Tesco then age may not be a factor and they all should be paid the same but then I was told by one Tesco manager that they employed retired people because they worked harder and were more reliable.

[wolf63]

Oneeyedvic

If someone is on Jobseekers allowance and working odd hours here and there he/she would be able to declare their earnings each time they sign on and their benefit would be adjusted accordingly.

[argorstran]

I fail to see how £3.64 per hour can possibly be described as "too much" .