..to think that £6.15 an hour...

[BertrandRussell]

.....really is shit wages?

Interestingly DS off to uni. next month so applied for a job doing the same thing bar work. He has been offered £8.56 per hour. Do you get more in the city.

Isn’t it true that you can’t get housing benefit til 25 these days?

It's all UC these days so if you're private letting it's LHA for shared housing if under 35 with no dependents and single.

It's all well and good to say some jobs aren't worth more but what happens if people start refusing to do the jobs because it isn't worth it?

Supply and demand of the workforce is a main reason why some jobs pay more than others.

But even if you think it's not enough to live on now, and point out that many people don't live with their parents etc, that's not the case in the OP is it? The son lives at home and works part time and earns more per hour (based on an inflation) than I did when I was in those same circumstances.

I'm not saying NMW is a good wage - I have an 18 year old who works directly for me and her wage is £9 per hour.

“Interestingly DS off to uni. next month so applied for a job doing the same thing bar work. He has been offered £8.56 per hour. Do you get more in the city.”

It’s a mandatory minimum. You can pay as much as you want to on top of that.

DS2 worked at Wetherspoons all through uni. They pay slightly (pennies) more than the NMW. He did have bills to pay so it used to piss him off that he was paid less than people older than him doing the same job. He was a team leader for his final year, he was still paid less than under 25s who had less responsibility.

Now he's a nurse and has always been paid the same as everyone else despite being 21 when he qualified. The same goes for DS1, he joined the army at 19 and gets paid the same amount as the next person in the same rank, with the same qualifications and experience regardless of how old they are.

Yes it’s terrible. Dd earns this, with no holiday pay and no sick pay and less hours work during school holidays.

She works in a nursery, so I’d hope most parents would agree she does important work. She’s not “just sticking a few stamps on envelopes”

She’s “lucky” that she can live at home, but she’d love to move out, how many 19yr olds don’t want their own place, however well they get on with their parents. I can’t see how she will ever be able to move out unless it’s with a partner, unless she leaves a job she loves to earn more.

UC is the biggest buttfuck for the poor and working poor going since Victorian times but hey, no one seems to give a fuck about the poor and working poor getting ahead.

“But even if you think it's not enough to live on now, and point out that many people don't live with their parents etc, that's not the case in the OP is it?“

Does that mean I am not allowed to be outraged on behalf of kids who aren’t in my son’s fortunate position?

And - surprise! surprise!- under UC a child is only a 'qualifying young person' if between the ages of 16-19 and in FT non-advanced education or training).

I was referring to posters who said some 18 year olds are parents They'll be able to claim UC.

But an 18 year old on NMW should be able to afford a houseshare. London may be an issue certainly, but the rest of the country a houseshare is affordable on that.

Students manage it, why not other 18-20 year olds?

But you can live on this amount.

@Dinosforall

That wasn't much comfort when we tried to find carers for my late DGF and none of the agencies could help due to lack of staff.

I wasn't in London and houseshares were something like £400-500 a month. That's more than half your salary on minimum wage.

I was referring to posters who said some 18 year olds are parents hmm They'll be able to claim UC.

Oh, yes, of course, the rate of award is lower for under 25s, all of them, dependents or not .

It’s plenty for a teenager who just wants some pocket money. Nowhere near enough for an adult who has bills to pay!

“It’s plenty for a teenager who just wants some pocket money”

But if they are doing a job that should be paid for, why should employers be subsidised by their employee’s parents?

But you can live on this amount

How? Without living with parents

Young adults being subsidised by parents is no normalised that no one even questions it now.

I was going to say the same as JennyManara on P5
£240 odd per week, no tax to pay, is not that bad an income.

Obviously, not what we'd all like, but not that bad for someone starting off in the world of work without experience or presumably many qualifications needed for the role.
Also a darn sight more than they'd be getting if they chose to study at University as many of their peers will be doing.

Context is everything really.

DS got his degree scientific and was head hunted 9k per annum they offered. He decided to do his masters, same company then said 14k, another company offered 32k.

It is supply and demand in some areas I suspect.

The reason young peoples wages are less is because otherwise employers would not employ most 18 year olds. But the lower minimum wage should not go up to 25.
@SnuggyBuggy at this wage you need to rent a room, not houseshares. That is cheaper. The average cost of renting a room in London is £743. In the north of England it is £378. But that is average, you can get far cheaper.

@Schoolwasnohelp Of course you can live on this amount. You rent a room, you eat cheaply and you socialise cheaply. I did it when I was younger. And you will be better off than a single unemployed person renting and trying to live. Then you only get £75 per week and often have to use a bit of that for rent. That is much tougher.

Why the fuck should someone's living situation have any bearing on the amount of wages they receive?! People are paid for a job of work, not based on what their outgoings are.

All those saying "pocket money jobs", do you think employers should be asking how much rent people pay or if they have to pay for transport, before deciding on their wage?

It doesn't matter whether someone is living with their parents and spending all their wages on snakebite (if that's still a thing!) or someone uses their wages for rent and commuting costs.

Your wages are for a job of work and your outgoings/living situation is fuck all to do with it, and shouldn't even come into it.

The NMW, especially for young people, is laughable quite frankly (and it's even more abhorrent that hugely profitable companies are relying on the government to top of the wages of the people they employ).

It's extremely depressing and it's shit too that so many people are desperate for these jobs paying wages, which in some counties wouldn't even cover their travel costs (especially for short shifts and zero hour contracts).

All this means surely is that kids whose parents can afford to subsidise do, and to hell with the rest.

It's shit.

That has always been the case. When I left home my parents could not afford to subsidise me at 18, and have never been able to help me, and I will not inherit. When your parents are poor you have to make your own money and pay for yourself all your life. That is not new.
There used to be no minimum wage at all and some young people were paid far less.