At the same time, businesses employing children aged 16 or 17 will be required to pay them at least £11.80 an hour, an increase of 45p.
The changes will raise the rates in Guernsey above those in the Isle of Man and the UK, but leave them below the rates in Jersey, where all workers above the school leaving age must be paid at least £13.59 an hour.
Only three deputies voted against Employment & Social Security’s proposals – Mark Helyar, Bruno Kay-Mouat and Simon Vermeulen – with the latter fearing that raising the minimum wage could repeat mistakes which he claimed had been made in the UK.
‘I would urge caution that we don’t find ourselves in the same mess as the UK with rising youth unemployment. It’s a terrible thing when people are priced out of being employed or when youngsters can’t get jobs,’ said Deputy Vermeulen.
He believed the proposals, which maintained a lower minimum wage for youngsters, were at least ‘less damaging’ than an earlier suggestion of equalising the youth and adult rates, which had generated opposition when ESS went out to consultation earlier in the year.
Economic Development president Sasha Kazantseva-Miller thanked ESS for adjusting its proposals following feedback from employers. She said her committee also had ‘very strong reservations’ about equalising the youth and adult rates, and had asked ESS to reconsider widening the difference between the rates if there was any increase in youth unemployment.
‘If a young person is doing the same work per day as an adult, with no supervision, I believe they should be paid exactly the same, ESS vice-president Jayne Ozanne countered. ‘Many are not living with their parents and they, too, are facing the cost of living crisis.’
Deputy Ozanne also hoped the States would look more closely at the concept of a living wage, which some countries have introduced on a legal or voluntary basis to provide every full-time worker with enough pay to cover their minimum basic needs.
Andy Sloan told the States that economists’ prevailing views about the effects of a legal minimum wage had changed more than once in recent decades.
‘The research is proving that it’s not so clear-cut. Today an economist will typically say that it depends,’ he said.
‘It’s very important that you should encourage work as a way of life. Having a lower rate for young people, to introduce them to the world of work as a ladder to a future better way of life, is a good thing. I welcome that the committee did not recommend equalising the youth and adult rates as I think that would have been a retrograde step.’
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