After all, many of the young people affected will be voting at the next election. Second, there was press coverage of the de facto raising of the minimum school-leaving age to 18. No young people below this age would forthwith be outside of some form of learning, whether in school, in training or in the workplace.
The two ideas are not, of course, wholly incompatible, though it is odd that there should be a minimum wage for those who are to be, in effect, removed from the labour market. The devil, as always, will be in the detail.
Will the many who are in part-time employment benefit from the proposed minimum wage? What will the implications be for job opportunities?
Some crude arithmetic sprang to mind. If we assume the existence of full-time "youth" jobs at 40 hours a week, then that produces weekly income of 120. Ten years ago, commentators were saying if the youth training allowance for 16- and 17-year-olds had kept pace with average earnings, it would have reached around 100 a week. The two figures are not so far apart.
I recall a debate about youth "choices" post-16. Simply, these consist of staying in education, doing vocational training, working in the service economy, working for cash in hand, or crime. Ideally, we want young people involved in the former rather than the latter, though the reverse is often true, especially for poor young people in poor neighbourhoods. Indeed, to correct this, educational maintenance allowances and other incentives to remain in education or training have been established.
It was also announced recently that there are still around 185,000 young people aged 16 and 17 not in education, training or employment - more than the 161,000 cited in 1999 when Bridging the Gap paved the way for a "new support service" for young people and educational maintenance allowances.
Renewed attention to the financial imperatives facing young people in this age group is therefore to be welcomed. One can almost anticipate a proposal that there should be a universal post-16 allowance for all those engaged in education, training or employment. This could be around the level of the minimum wage. Absurd? Perhaps, though it was first suggested by a Conservative Party study group on youth policy in 1978.
- Howard Williamson is vice-chair of the Wales Youth Agency and a member of the Youth Justice Board howard.williamson@haynet.com.
