Advocates say wage cut hurts vulnerable youth
UCP’s decision to cut the minimum wage leaves many vulnerable young people in the lurch, Moira Wyton writes.
Student workers are feeling “shock, fear and anxiety” as a recent UCP cut to youth minimum wage rolls out across the province, leaving the future of their earnings uncertain.
The UCP touted the decision — which made it legal for employers to pay students aged 17 and under $13 per hour instead of $15 starting June 26 — as a means to ensure employers can hire more youth.
But youth support workers say the decision doesn’t acknowledge the “difficult realities” many vulnerable youth face and extinguishes hope many have in finding a job to support themselves or their families.
“If they are limited by this wage cut, it’s not appealing for youth to even find a job,” said Amanda Van Huenen, employment co-ordinator at Youth Empowerment & Support Services (YESS), on Friday. “They are asking, ‘What am I going to pay for with this? Or what can I even do with $13 an hour?’”
YESS, which works with more than 750 youth ages 15 to 21 annually, saw youth increasingly reach financial independence when the minimum wage increased to $15 per hour under the former NDP government. Now, they say the youth, many of whom are experiencing homelessness, substance abuse and mental-health issues, feel “defeated.” It’s a “kick in the face,” said Van Huenen.
“These youth just want the opportunity to succeed,” said Jessica Day, director of program innovation at YESS on Friday. “This decision does nothing to empower them.”
When the UCP announced the change to minimum-wage regulations alongside changes to unions and overtime pay in May, Premier Jason Kenney said that 11 per cent of Alberta youth aged 15 to 24 are unemployed, nearly double the rate of 6.7 per cent in the province’s general population.
But youth, and teens specifically, tend to “naturally” work less than adults because they are enrolled in school at higher rates, said Gil McGowan, president of the Alberta Federation of Labour (AFL). The youth workforce participation rate in Alberta remains the highest in Canada at 64 per cent, slightly lower than 71.5 per cent of the population in general.
Alberta labour statistics also indicate the unemployment rate for youth aged 15 to 24 in Alberta decreased to 11 per cent from 12 per cent between May 2018 and May 2019.
“There’s no real problem to solve (for youth),” said McGowan, noting there is an “important distinction” between minors affected by the regulation change and the youth demographic as a whole, because those minors are more likely to be enrolled in school.
Day and Van Huenen believe this change will cause youth to postpone or drop out of studies in order to work more hours or be paid the $15 non-student wage to make ends meet. The policy, they say, harms the “lowest common denominator” of youth while claiming to benefit students working for extra pocket money.
Richard Truscott, vice-president, B.C. and Alberta for the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB,) lobbied the UCP for a “training wage” rather than an age-based wage differential “to recognize the investment that employers make … in hiring and training people” and promote hiring.
While he notes wages are “not the only piece of the puzzle” of job creation and supports training and tax support for minimum wage workers, Truscott sees lowering the barrier for businesses to hire teens as an essential part of allowing wages and quality of life to rise as the economy recovers.
“The alternative is that there’s fewer jobs available for young people to get their foot in the door,” said Truscott.
Day and Van Huenen expressed concern that the decision doesn’t affect onboarding costs for a new
If they are limited by this wage cut, it’s not appealing for youth to even find a job. They are asking, ‘What am I going to pay for with this? Or what can I even do with $13 an hour?’
Amanda Van Huenen, above, employment co-ordinator, Yo u th Empowerment & Support Services
employee and only makes it harder for youth to support themselves when they do land a job.
“The government is not making it any easier for them,” Day said.
Despite the effect on vulnerable students who support themselves, teens looking for the casual work experience that Kenney used to justify the policy change exist too — they just might not benefit from the policy either.
Three summers ago, Eiden Andison, 17, got a minimum-wage paying job scooping ice cream at the Valley Zoo through a family connection. The high school student lives at home and uses the money — $15 per hour, up from $12.50 when he started — to pay for his “wants,” including parts for computers he builds in his spare time.
Now, Andison is not sure if his employer will change his wage, but says he’s heard from senior employees that they will most likely start new hires at the reduced $13 rate.
“I just hope my wages don’t go down,” he said in an interview with Postmedia. “It’s taking a step back from where we were.”
If his wage does decrease, Andison notes that he’s lucky he lives at home and is still supported by his parents, who have three other children.
“If I was needing to live off this, it would be a different story,” he said.
That story is many youths’ reality, said Van Huenen.
“Those kids are paying for their wants,” said Day. “We’ve got kids who are paying for their needs.”
A recent report released by the AFL states lower pay could actually backfire on all youth in the workforce, making them more vulnerable to age-based hiring discrimination.
Employment for youth under 18 is already precarious as “they are generally clustered into lowwage positions and sectors, where they are often the ‘last ones hired and the first ones fired,’” said the report. The AFL warns the issue could be exacerbated when young workers graduate to an adult wage as it has in previous cases in Denmark and the United Kingdom.
But Truscott disagrees that firing employees to hire younger ones is a smart business move for small businesses. He gets the sense from CFIB membership that this will give them more flexibility to make wage decisions for new hires rather than decreasing pay or firing existing employees.
“At the end of the day, the most important thing is that governments are providing employers with flexibility in wage rates and employment rules, so they can help get Albertans back to work,” said Truscott.
But for youth who were able to afford to study and work after their wage increased to $15, working further below a living wage — calculated at more than $16 in Edmonton — will take paying for basic needs and gaining the education needed for a higher-paying job even further out of reach.
“They didn’t just take away $2 per hour, they took away opportunities and they took away hope,” said Day.