‘My bus ticket was more than I got paid an hour’

The youngest workers have seen the minimum wage rise by less than older colleagues - as the latest employment figures reveal average wages are not keeping up with the rising cost of living.

As a BBC Young Reporter, I wanted to look at this further because of my own experiences at work.

I've had part-time jobs since I was 15, often earning the minimum wage. As a younger worker that meant I was paid less than older colleagues - even when I was doing the same work.

It's something I've found really unfair, and I don't think younger people always feel like they can stand up for themselves at work.

It's a issue some of my friends say they've also experienced.

"It's frustrating," says 15-year-old Isabella, who left her job in a restaurant because she earned less than her colleagues - with the only difference being that she couldn't serve alcohol.

"It was a small place and we were all doing the same thing, but for different amounts," she says.

Isabella was being paid the minimum wage - which at the time was £4.62 an hour for people aged under 18. "The bus ticket into town, for the day, was around £4.80 I think, so my bus ticket was more than I was earning per hour."

Data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) shows that minimum rates of pay have gone up less for those under 20 than for older workers since 2016.

In April, the minimum wage went up to £4.81 per hour for those under 18, a 24% increase on the rate in 2016, which was £3.87 per hour.

But for 21 and 22-year-olds it rose by 37% over the same period, from £6.70 to £9.18 per hour. And it climbed by 42% to £9.50 per hour for 23 and 24-year-olds.

That older cohort have since 2017 been paid what is known as the National Living Wage. Originally for over-25s, it has been extended to all workers over 23, and there are plans to lower the threshold further to 21 by 2024.

Later this month, the Low Pay Commission - an independent body that advises the government - will make its recommendations on what minimum wage rates should be for next year. The Commission says its remit is to push pay for younger workers as high as possible without damaging their employment prospects.

Richard Davies, Professor of Public Understanding of Economics at Bristol University, tells me that's important because "if you have a long period of being unemployed when you're young, that can affect you for the rest of your life".

He also explains that the lower minimum wage for young people also "rests on the idea that they will have fewer skills and lower productivity than older workers", adding that there is also an assumption that young people are getting something back.

"The deal is that by going to work, you're also being trained. So the firm is giving you something - and that makes it fair that they pay you a little less."

That's certainly something Nick Collins believes his business, Loungers, offers.

More than 6,000 people work for the bar and restaurant chain - and 40% are under 21.

"We used to pay everyone the same," he says. "But when the National Living Wage started to climb it became less affordable for us."

New starters joining his company are now paid less if they're under 18 or under 21, but he says they can "progress quickly" and once they're in more senior roles are paid the same regardless of age.

"We agonised over it a lot, we didn't like doing it," he says, adding that all under-18s and under-21s earn at least £8 per hour - more than the minimum wage.

But Mr Collins acknowledges that attracting and retaining staff in hospitality is getting harder - competing with sectors like retail where hours can be more sociable and pay can be higher.

"I'd love to pay everyone more, but we just wouldn't be able to sustain that," he tells me.

I now work in a supermarket where I earn more than £10 an hour. Everyone there is paid the same regardless of their age, including my school friend Tabitha, who works there too.

She left a job at a bowling alley where she was being paid the minimum wage.

"It was awful," she says. "The pay didn't match up to the work we had to do - there was a lot of stress."

"The older people would be working on the bar, standing around chatting, and the younger people would be running around, really busy, trying to make sure the jobs were finished."

As for asking for a pay rise, Tabitha says it "simply doesn't happen when you're this young", adding that "no one takes you seriously".

But that may be changing.

As the latest figures show the unemployment rate at its lowest for nearly 50 years, Tony Wilson from the Institute for Employment Studies says young people are "voting with their feet."

"We've got the highest number of people changing jobs that we've ever seen," he says. "That is prompting employers to try and treat people better around pay and around fairness at work."

So is there an argument for paying everyone the same, regardless of age? Perhaps not everyone, says Tony Wilson.

"My worry would be that if employers had to pay 16 and 17-year-olds £9.50 an hour, they just wouldn't do it," he tells me.

"But when you get up to ages 18, 19, or 20, I think it's harder to justify paying people £6 something an hour when their colleagues are getting £9 something an hour."

A spokesperson from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy said: "While we know the priority for younger workers in those first years is to secure work and gain experience, we are nevertheless determined to ensure it pays properly."

You can find stories by other young people on the BBC Young Reporter website.