But it's only recently that we've noticed that teenagers face deep-rooted inequalities in pay and employment prospects from the day they enter the workforce. For instance, last week's TUC report highlighted the fact that those who start work at 16 are choosing occupations along traditional gender lines.
It found that young men aged 16 and 17 were more than twice as likely as young women to work in manufacturing, and that young women were more than twice as likely as young men to work in the public services. And since female-dominated occupations generally pay lower wages than traditional "male" jobs, the gender pay gap can be clearly traced from the teenage years. Young women are earning 16 per cent less than their male counterparts - nearly as big a pay gap as that faced by workers later in their careers.
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