So, I do some part-time work for the restaurant delivery service Deliveroo in the Netherlands and I just got a renewal contract with a table showing how much minimum wage the employer is required to pay depending on your age. What do you think about this type of minimum wage scheme? Would it work in America?
Since America insists on turning the “minimum” wage into a living wage.
Something like that will have to be implemented in my opinion. But that would also require parents to let their kids work, and having kids who WANT to work because they are not given anything they want by their parents.
Age discrimination comes to mind. My honest opinion is age shouldn’t have anything to do with your wage. Everyone is different. To me, the ideology behind this is: “the older you are, the more experience and/or maturity you’d have making you more of an asset to a potential employer than someone younger.” I’m in a major metro area near a university and sometimes get 18-19 year olds that come in and are way better employees with better experience than some that are in their mid 20’s with similar experience. Having experience also isn’t always a good thing. You, as the potential employer, don’t know what those experiences were exactly. They could’ve been good or bad. I believe employees should get paid based off of their skill level and ability, not age.
Economically speaking, this is could be a disaster for anyone 22+ trying to get an entry level position and could possibly lead to an unemployment gap. What if you want to get a new job in a new field with no experience in that field? What company would hire a 22 year old for 7.61/hr when you could hire an 18 year old for 2.00/hr less for an entry level position? This promotes discrimination and in my opinion, would not work in the U.S.
In Michigan we are allowed to pay minors 85% of the current min wage. We can also pay a “Training Wage” to anyone under 19 for the first 90 days of $4.25 I personally don’t bother, 2 of my best workers currently are only 17 years old. Some of my worst are in there 30’s.
Interesting! Labor is certainly looked at differently here in the Netherlands. I’ve also noticed that once you retire here, it is extremely uncommon, even culturally taboo, to do some part time work. No “Walmart Greeters” here. Usually people who retire are encouraged to volunteer their time to stay active or join social groups instead.