YOUNG ADULTS ARE experiencing an icy welcome to the world of work, where compensation for their labour is determined by the arbitrary date on which they were born.

At present, wages for younger adults and teenagers are doled out on the following basis:

• Adults aged 20 and over: This cohort receives full minimum wage (€14.15 per hour)

• 19-year-olds: This group is entitled to 90% of minimum wage (€12.74 per hour)

• 18-year-olds: A slightly decreased 80% of minimum wage (€11.32 per hour)

• Anybody below the age of 18: 70% of minimum wage (€9.91).

This means a 17-year-old will come out €34 worse off than a 20-year-old for an eight-hour shift. That’s €170 per week extra for the 20-year-old, if they’re both working full-time, which is not an inconsequential sum of money. It represents a monthly disparity of €680 between older and younger workers, often doing the same work.

The idea of sub-minimum wage calls the whole concept of minimum wage into question. The entire idea of “minimum” wage is to tackle poverty and inequality, so why is it possible to pay people below that threshold? With this system, we acknowledge a certain income is necessary to make ends meet, and we opt not to give that to young adults.

Discrimination

Irish trade unions have called the practice discriminatory, with good reason. By definition, age-based discrimination is the “less favourable treatment of one person compared with another because they are of different ages.” This is why it’s legally risky to ask someone’s date of birth in an interview or advertise a job specifically to young people.

Exceptions for young workers seem to be fine when it comes to the bottom line.

We certainly wouldn’t accept similar decreases in wages for people as they got older. If someone argued that productivity, physical fitness and enthusiasm for work decrease with age, there’d be understandable outrage.

Even more concerning, 16-year-olds can work but can’t vote. This is a demographic of people with no democratic rights who are subjected to discrimination that impacts their income; this should be of concern to all of us.

Compounded by class

This system hurts people from disadvantaged backgrounds most, as they tend to start work earlier. Young adults from low-income families face pressure to shoulder household costs, contributing to rent and groceries, not as a kind gesture to their parents, but out of necessity.

Additionally, people from disadvantaged parts of Ireland are much less likely to pursue third-level education, meaning they join the workforce at an earlier age.

A decade ago, just 15% of school-leavers from Dublin 17 (encompassing Coolock, Darndale and Priorswood) went on to third level education, compared to 99% of school-leavers from Dublin 6 (Milltown, Ranelagh and Rathmines). Sub-minimum wages allow employers to take advantage of people’s circumstances, paying less to those working out of necessity.

Those from affluent backgrounds often have the luxury of starting work later. Some don’t work throughout college at all, if their families are in a position to ensure their time at college is focused on their education. In contrast, people from disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds have to work through college – particularly if they have to move out and rent while studying.

Equal work, unequal pay

What makes the existing system more farcical is the simple fact that 19-year-olds working since the age of 17 will have more experience than a 20-year-old taking on a role for the first time. It isn’t experience that’s rewarded, but rather age.

Having worked in retail and service jobs, it’s quite clear that teenagers carry out the same duties as colleagues in their 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s and 60s.

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There are virtually no differences in responsibility when it comes to cash handling, cleaning work and delivering the same standard of customer service. Retail workers of all ages endure the same levels of abuse from customers (though some customers seemed to prey on the vulnerabilities of younger staff).

My lowest paying and most dangerous job was seasonal work in a fast food unit in a stadium. Young employees were asked to carry heavy vats of hot oil and scalding water across the kitchen to dispose of it at the end of the day. Burns and injuries were viewed as part of the work and my young coworkers had a tendency to do what they were told, no questions asked.

This is because there’s great fear among younger workers, when it comes to raising concerns related to health, safety and even workplace bullying. Newcomers to the workplace tend to have less confidence, a lack of experience with confrontation and a fear of retaliation, which means that many young workers are grinning and bearing it when their safety is infringed upon.

This is a serious problem and represents another opportunity for young adults to be taken advantage of in the workplace. In the UK, a third of young workers have considered quitting their jobs because they do not feel safe speaking up about workplace issues.

The cost of low wages

Working conditions and sub-minimum wages are just one facet of Ireland’s neglect of young people. Life here feels increasingly hopeless for young adults, who have served as collateral damage for austerity. Housing is frequently cited as the greatest woe of this generation, with 61.7% of adults aged 18-34 living at home with their families, according to Eurostat.

This creates tension between parents and adult children. It even leaves young adults in emotionally and physically abusive dynamics with parents, with nowhere to run due to the housing crisis. Young people are experiencing extensive mental health issues, with the CSO finding that 25% of 25-year-olds have been diagnosed with depression or anxiety. This is not helped by low wages, which stymie access to mental health supports and therapy.

It’s no wonder that 32,000 people under 24 are emigrating each year. They’re leaving for new pastures that have maintained accessible housing, lower living costs and salaries that make life easier. The issues young people face at home are not unresolvable. We need to demand better for young people.