Workers under 25 Deserve Living Wage

Question: Describe about the Workers under 25 Deserve Living Wage? Answer: Living wage is the minimum income essential for a worker to meet his basic needs. According to the public policy, these needs include shelter, clothing, and nutrition. In countries like the United Kingdom and Switzerland living is wage is important for those workers who are working 40 hours a week without any additional income. Living wage allows them to live a quality life as it helps to get food, transport, health care, at least, one course a year to enhance their abilities, childcare, legal fees, insurance, etc. (Bindman 2015). First living wage campaign took place in the US to prevent the extreme level of poverty faced by workers and their family. In the summer budget, Chancellor George Osborne announced that new living wage will be introduced for the workers who are over 25 years old. According to this rule, they will get 7.20 pounds per hour which will increase and will go up to 9 pounds per hour by 2020 (Bennett 2016). On the other hand, workers under 25 will be working on old living wage rates that are 6.70 pounds per hour, down to 5.30 pound for 18-20 years old works and 3.87 pounds for a worker under 18s (East Devon Watch 2015). Government minister Matthew Hancock supported this policy by saying that workers under 25 years old are not productive and hardworking enough to have this raise. According to me, it is wrong to say that workers under 25 years old are not productive or hard-working. So I strongly disagree with the explanation of Mr. Matthew Hancock. According to the Trade Union, it was an "out of touch" decision by the government as a survey poll is showing that over 66 percent people think that new living wage policy should be applicable for under 25s too. This policy will be disastrous for the workers who are below 25 years and have at least one child. Even if he is working for 35 hours a week, he will not get that 910 pound a year pay increase, but they will start losing 1,750 pounds of the tax credit changes (Thetelegram.com 2016). I have also seen that most of the organizations do not pay their employees who use to travel between appointments. I personally think it is a criminal offense to not to pay ample amount of living wages while you are not providing traveling wages. Besides, it is really unfair to say that all workers who are below 25 years of age are not hard working. For example, a home care worker has to deliver the same job that his older colleagues are doing with the same responsibility. While UK is saying that workers under 25 years old do not deserve to avail the new policy of living wage, other countries are saying otherwise. In the USA, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle and some other states have agreed to increase the minimum living age to 15 dollars per hour. The reason behind this is simple that most of the jobs do not pay enough to live a healthy life. This why a raise in living wage is important for any worker so that he can fulfill his basic needs. UK government is concerned that if they raise the living wage for the workers who are under 25, job declines in youth employment will take place. The fact is, in 2011, Fraser Institute predicted the same thing, but nothing happened like that. Another reason that I am not supporting this policy as it might destroy our social structure. Just imagine a worker who is not getting paid enough in spite of working 35-42 hours a week while he is bearing the responsibilities of this family. What he will do to complete his basic needs and the needs of his family (Coulson and Bonner2015). It is not hard to say that he will acquire unsocial ways to earn the money he needs. This will not help our social structure. Besides, if I believe that workers under 25 years old are not experienced or productive, then I think there is a good chance for the companies and organizations to create an environment of professional competitiveness. If the living wage increases for the workers under 25 years old, then the companies can adopt several training programs to enhance the skill of their employees who fit in that age bracket (Bennett 2016). Employees who will pass the training season will be able to work with that organization and will get the pay rise. This will improve the work styles of the workers, and it will create a sense of loyalty to them, about that organization that is desirable for any organization. But now the Government has done otherwise, so even a hard working worker will not show his interest while executing the job as he knows that he is not going to get enough payment for this. References Bennett, O. 2016. Under 25s Not 'Productive' Enough To Warrant National Living Wage Says Tory Minister. [online] The Huffington Post UK. Available at: https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2015/10/06/matthew-hancock-living-minimum-wage_n_8252008.html [Accessed 11 Jan. 2016]. Bindman, A., 2015. A Healthy Living Wage. JAMA, 314(21), pp.2224-2225. Brown, E., Newman, A. and Blair, S., 2014. The difference a living wage makes. Connecting communities, policy and, p.90. Coulson, A. and Bonner, J., 2015. Living Wage Employers: evidence of UK Business Cases. East Devon Watch, 2015. Are under-25s too lazy to deserve the National Minimum Wage?. [online] Available at: https://eastdevonwatch.org/2015/10/06/are-under-25s-too-lazy-to-deserve-the-national-minimum-wage/comment-page-1/ [Accessed 11 Jan. 2016]. Thetelegram.com, 2016. Workers deserve a living wage - Letter to the editor - The Telegram. [online] Available at: https://www.thetelegram.com/Opinion/Letter-to-the-editor/2015-10-16/article-4310441/Workers-deserve-a-living-wage/1 [Accessed 11 Jan. 2016].