Employer groups predict a surge in unemployment if the industrial umpire agrees to raise wages for 18, 19 and 20-year-old workers in retail, fast food or pharmacy jobs.

The Shop Distributive and Allied Employees Union has applied to the Fair Work Commission so the youngest adults are paid the same wages as those over 21, a step national secretary Gerard Dwyer likened to the fight for gender equality.

“When women were fighting for equal pay half a century ago, employers said it would squeeze them out of the job market – now they’re using the same tired argument about paying 18 year olds adult wages,” he said. “It wasn’t true then and it won’t be true now.”

While New Zealand scrapped youth wages almost two decades ago, in Australia those aged 20 are paid 90 per cent of the adult award rat

See Full Page