Youth Rates Miss the Point

Press Release
Conservative Party

1 May 2013

“The introduction of Youth Rates misses the point, and is unlikely to make much difference to our serious youth unemployment problem,” says Conservative Party Leader Colin Craig.

“No employer I know thinks that the main issue is the rate of pay. Instead, it's about the workers’ attitude, skills, and commitment. Regardless of age, these are the factors that matter most. Who cares about a couple of bucks if your employee is unreliable or likely to damage expensive equipment,” he says.

“It’s flawed to argue that two people doing the same job, with the same output, should be paid differently on the basis of age,” he says. “That’s obviously not fair.”

“In situations where workers are trained on the job however, a lower rate of pay makes sense. Workers in these situations not only get money, they get skills,” he says. “But the differentiating factor must be output (productivity) not age.”

“Our goal is that all New Zealanders are paid more. We must therefore focus on increasing productivity. If the average New Zealand worker was producing the same value as their Australian counterpart, wages could increase 20-30% across the board.”

“Let’s get serious about innovation, capital investment, trade training and business development. These are the factors that will increase wages for all New Zealanders, and that’s the point.”

ENDS