Should junior wages be abolished?   
The argument is that young people are not fully “work-ready” and require more intensive employer support to develop the right skills for their job. But change could be on the horizon. Major unions and some politicians are pushing for reform – arguing “youth wages” should be scrapped entirely for adults.4 Oct 2024

Growing call for Australia to introduce big change to junior pay rates
There is a growing push to abolish junior pay rates across the country, with Aussies branding the current system a “scam”.   


News.com.au
October 7, 2024

A large amount of Aussies are backing a push to abolish junior pay rates across the country, claiming it isn’t fair that younger workers are being paid less than their older colleagues in situations where they have the same responsibilities.

Under the current laws, workers aged 20 and under get paid a percentage of the relevant adult pay rate, unless the award, enterprise agreement or other registered agreement doesn’t have junior rates.

Junior rates apply to 75 awards, including in the retail, fast-food and pharmacy sectors.

The National Minimum Wage is currently $24.10 per hour, or $915.90 per week.
At the moment, current junior pay rates mean impacted workers aged from 18 to 20 years old are paid between 68.3 per cent and 97.7 per cent of the national minimum wage.

For 16 to 17 year olds, that rate decreases to 47.3 per cent and 57.8 per cent and those under 16 are paid 36.8 per cent of the minimum wage.

Now, a significant number of Aussies are backing a push from unions to scrap junior wages for those aged 18 and over, with hundreds of people sharing their views in a recent Reddit discussion on the subject.

There is a major push for junior pay rates to be abolished for 18 to 20-year-olds.

Multiple people noted that people are considered “adults” when they turn 18 and questioned how it could then be justified to pay them less just because of their age.   

“Nothing else in this country treats someone as an adult only from the age of 21 except for full pay,” one commenter said.

One added: “Old enough to vote, drink, and for all intents and purposes be a full adult. Old enough to get a full adult wage.”


Many commenters claimed that, for the most part, pay should be based on experience, not on a person’s age.

“If the young person has more experience than the older person in the same job, I’d expect the young person to be paid more,” one person said.

“It’s a scam. An excuse to reduce wages against someone who is doing the exact same job as other people. It’s ageism. It’s also a relict of a distant past where literacy and education levels were significantly dependent on age,” another claimed.

However, there were those that agreed that for people under the age of 18, junior pay rates made more sense as they were likely to need more supervision or training.

This year the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees’ Association (SDA) submitted an application to the Fair Work Commission seeking to remove junior rates for employees who are 18 years or older from the General Retail Industry Award, Fast Food Industry Award and Pharmacy Industry Award.

The SDA is also seeking to raise rates for those under the age of 16 to 50 per cent of the minimum wage and 75 per cent for 17-year-olds.

Do you think junior pay rates should be abolished?
No, they are in place for a reason
Yes, pay should be based on experience, not age
Yes, but only for those aged 18 and over

Cast your vote
The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) is backing the application, branding junior pay rates “discriminatory” and claiming they represent “massive pay cuts” for young people.

Sally McManus, ACTU Secretary, questioned why young people should be getting “youth wages” when they don’t get discounts on their rent or grocery bills.   

“Eighteen-year-olds have the same social and legal responsibilities as other adults and deserve the same minimum pay rates,” Ms McManus,

“The cost of living and housing disproportionately falls on young workers. Wage discrimination in the forms of youth wages, discriminatory super rules, and forms of unpaid work such as internships, are compounding economic insecurity for young people.

“The cards are already so heavily stacked against young workers. It is unfair for them to have to work harder and longer to pay the same bills as other adults.”   

However, not everyone agrees with the move.

Tammie Christofis Ballis, a recruiter and career coach at Realistic Careers, told news.com.au that, in her opinion, scrapping junior awards is “not necessarily a good idea”.

She warned abolishing junior pay rates could remove the incentive for businesses to hire younger people.

“You’ve got two candidates. One’s got work experience and life experience and one doesn’t. They’re both at the same award rate. At the end of the day, a business is a business. They hire skills and they are going to hire the one that has already got the skills,” she said.

Greens join push to scrap junior worker pay rates   

Financial Review
Oct 3, 2024

The Greens have joined a push to abolish junior wage rates for young workers, ramping up pressure on the Albanese government for another round of industrial relations changes after next year’s election.

ACTU secretary Sally McManus this week urged Labor to scrap lower pay rates for workers under 21 employed in retail, fast food and pharmacy. The change, which union leaders want if Labor wins next year, would help as many as 500,000 workers over the age of 18 but who are paid less than their older colleagues.




In what would be a third tranche of major industrial relations reform since 2022, laws allowing workers to be paid a percentage of adult rates would be abolished. Some workers in the sectors are paid as little as 70 per cent of the full adult wage, despite being over 18.

But employers warn the rises would be unaffordable for parts of the economy. Employment and Workplace Relations Minister Murray Watt declined to comment on Thursday, but Greens employment spokeswoman Barbara Pocock confirmed her support for the plan.

Polling suggests Labor could lose its slim majority at the election, a scenario that could hand the Greens significant negotiating power in both houses of parliament. 



’Less pay for the same work’
Senator Pocock said an 18-year-old hospitality worker should not be paid $12 an hour less than a 21-year-old worker.

“Young people don’t get junior prices at the supermarket or a junior discount on their rent. They have to live through this cost-of-living crisis just like everyone else so why should they get less pay for the same work?

“Junior pay rates guarantee an endless supply of cheap labour for employers willing to exploit the skills and talents of young people often desperate to get a start in the workforce. This idea that employers provide entry-level jobs for young workers only because they can pay them a lower wage is a furphy.”

The change is already opposed by employer bodies including the Australian Industry Group, the Business Council and the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry,   

no