Should teenagers have a special minimum wage than the average worker?

Question

Lower minimum wage

Answer 1

One could equate that with child slave labor.  I don't think it would be Constitutionally acceptable.  However, it used to be that if a person only worked part time, the minimum wage law didn't apply.  I don't know if its still that way or not.

Answer 2

A lower wage for young people was one of the reasons we currently have child labor laws.  Also, it was one of the main reasons that Unions emerged as powerful political organizations in the early 1930s.  If you work no matter what your age, you should be paid the same as everyone doing that job.

Answer 3

They are the ones earning the minimum wage

Answer 4

i don't think so, if they are doing the same amount of work.

Answer 5

why are they special

Answer 6

No, the minimum wage is low enough and teenagers are people too.

The result of such a procedure is that teenagers might receive preferential hiring due  to the fact that the employer could pay them less money. That is wrong just as it would be wrong to have the minimum wage based on s*x, religious affiliation, or age.

Answer 7

That should be determined on a case by case basis. At one point, I had a job, where I was doing an adult's job, and getting paid minum wage, and the job really deserved abouve that.

Answer 8

I don't believe so. If employers are able to pay less based on age, they will hire more kids, and fewer adults who need to work in order to provide for their families. And what about a teen who is married and/ or has a family? Can can they afford to do the same work as an adult and be paid less?

Answer 9

No, they should be paid the same... they do the same work

Answer 10

Yes!

Let us call it child slave labor wage!

Answer 11

No, I believe the minimum wage should be the minimum wage for everyone.

Answer 12

Minimum wage is already for those teenagers--and for those adults who have never bothered to get any better than teenagers.

Answer 13

no, because it is age discrimination waiting to happen and actually may damage the economy in the long run.  If an employer could pay someone younger than 18 a certain amount and someone over 18 a different amount to do the same job and there are two applicants--17 and 19, who do you think the employer is going to hire and why?  How often is an 18 year old going to get fired from the grocery store or have their hours cut because there was a 16 year old that applied for the job or simply because the person turned 18 and it will cost the company more money to have the job done?  The way it will damage the economy in the long run is that many companies that employ minimum wage workers (fast food, grocery stores, etc) will favor workers with the lower wage, especially since such industries have a very high and anticipated turn over rate factored into the business plan.  What this means is that more high schoolers will be working more hours which leaves less time for studying and preparing for college.  A certain percentage of teenagers don't care about their future, but several are on a the proverbial fence and can be swayed in either direction.  They can be swayed by a larger immediate paycheck instead of a larger overall paycheck.   An educated society is going to have a stronger economy than any other.

Answer 14

Hmm, let's see. Why should a teenager's wage be less than the minimum wage for a normal adult when the job could be the same? Would that not be age descrimination? Are you proposing younger people should get paid less money because they are simply younger or are you factoring something else in too? Sometimes adolescents actually have stuff to pay for too like oh college tuition yes money would help for that esp. when they're paying on their own way through. So you have your tuition and lodging basics on your proposed lower minimum wage for teenagers; then you have your higher minimum wage for adults typically without tuition to worry about-the rest being consistant expenses... I think it should all be dependent on what the job is, not who is doing it.

Answer 15

not if they work harder

Answer 16

That's an interesting question which I assume springs from your astute observation that teenagers typically have much less experience and much less skill than "the average worker."  This logically leads to the idea that teenagers can justifiably be paid less.  I agree.

But why don't we go a step farther?  Instead of dividing the world into two categories -- teenagers and everyone else -- why not treat every worker as an individual?  Since not all teenagers (or adults) are created equal, why not base all wages on the value of the employee in the chosen occupation?  Then there would be no "minimum wage" per se, rather everyone would simply be getting paid what he/she is worth to his/her employer.  That is the fairest arrangement, to be sure, though not without its problems.

I oppose all minimum wage laws, simply because they force an employer to either 1) pay someone more than he/she is worth to do a job, or 2) let the job go undone.  And I believe the motivation for the government to increase minimum wage is not to help out the little guy (because it ultimately results in inflation), but simply to be able to collect more income tax.

So my answer to your question is:  No, there should be no special minimum wage for teenagers, because there should be no minimum wage at all.