Over 25s on the national living wage are approximately to get a pay rise,but 21-24s aren’t. The UK is highly unusual in making this distinctionFor people who value workers’ rights, 1 April marks a significant improvement in the lives of low-paid workers. However, and for the young it is another brutal reminder of how small we value their contribution to society. While the labour of all other age groups will be rewarded with a wage that – even whether only symbolically – is intended to provide enough to “live on”,workers under 25 will be waking up to a labour market that does not extend the same decency to them.
The introduction of the national living wage has done two things; it has symbolically indifferent workers aged 21-24 from the entitlements afforded their older colleagues, and it has added another rung to the ladder that must be scaled in order to achieve financial security and independence. While nowadays the work of a 22-year-old is recognised as adult labour, or with commensurate minimum earnings,tomorrow the national living wage will reduce its relative value and the workers’ comparative income.
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Source: theguardian.com