Minimum Wage. The fairness trap.
Youth unemployment in the UK has hit over 16 percent, the highest in over a decade. Nearly one in six young people can't find work because, Huw argues, we have priced them out of the job market.
THE GIST ON MINIMUM WAGE: "The Fairness Trap"
What has happened to young people's pay?
Minimum wage for 18 to 20 year olds has gone up 46 percent in three years, which sounds great. But hiring an 18 year old with no experience now costs basically the same as a 25 year old with seven years experience, so businesses have stopped hiring them.
Why does cost matter at the start?
Unproven things need to be cheaper, not because they're worse or because it's exploitative, but because nobody trusts new until it's proven. We all needed someone to take a chance on us. They did because the financial risk was low enough.
We've become so set on making things fair that we've created an equality of nothing versus an inequality of something.
Who pays?
Remove the low cost chances and people stay unproven. Businesses can't find trained workers because nobody trained them. Tax revenue drops, skills shortages develop, and the state steps in to support people employers won't take a chance on. The snake eats its own tail.
You can't eliminate risk from hiring. You can only decide who bears it, and we've made young people bear all of it.
Should first jobs be cheaper, so someone takes a chance?
Your take. One tap, then see how everyone else voted.
Quick answers
What is UK youth unemployment?
Over 16 percent, the highest in over a decade, according to Huw.
How much has the 18 to 20 minimum wage risen?
46 percent in the last three years.
What is Huw's argument?
That unproven workers need to be cheaper to be worth the risk, and removing that entry point leaves young people bearing all of it.
See you on the next one.
What should the next one be? Suggest a topic for Huw to explain
The conversation
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