4 days Ago By Alfie Stone
TUC analysis shows government’s Make Work Pay commitments could be life changing for young workers More than 400,000 young workers (aged 18-20) set to benefit from the minimum wage uplift Almost half a million young workers (aged 16-24) currently on zero-hours contracts will see their circumstances improve thanks to Employment Rights Bill Young people are currently almost four times more likely to be in insecure work compared to general population New analysis by the TUC – published during TUC’s Young Workers’ Month – estimates that 420,000 workers aged 18 to 20 across the UK are set to significantly benefit from measures announced by the Labour government. The government has committed to ensuring all adult workers are paid the same minimum wage. The uplifts announced for April 2025 are a step towards this.
Closing the gap In April 2025, the national living wage will go from the current £11.44 per hour to £12.21.
The new rate for 18–20-year-olds will be £10 per hour – up from £8.60. This means that the earning gulf between 18–20-year-old workers and workers aged 21+ will start narrowing – going from £2.
84 per hour to £2.21. The TUC supports the government’s commitment to end discriminatory age bands in the minimum wage so that young workers are paid fairly.
Narrowing the earning gulf is a step in the right direction. Young workers more likely to be on zero-hours contracts Ahead of the Employment Rights Bill reaching committee stage (Tuesday 26 November), new TUC analysis shows that young workers aged 16-24 are almost four times more likely than the wider work force to be employed on a zero-hours contract (13% compared to 3.4% of all workers).
A total of 470,000 young workers aged 16-24 are on zero-hours contracts. Young workers are set to significantly benefit from the government’s Employment Rights Bill – in particular, from measures that will give workers a right to guaranteed hours and reasonable notice of shifts. The TUC says zero-hours contracts hand the employer total control over workers’ hours and earning power, meaning workers never know how much they will earn each week, and their income is subject to the whims of managers.
The union body argues that this makes it hard for workers to plan their lives, for example studying, caring, or seeing friends and family alongside work, and to challenge unacceptable behaviour by bosses because of concerns about whether they will be penalised by not being allocated hours in the future. And TUC polling published in August found that the vast majority of workers on zero-hours contracts want regular hours. More than 8 in 10 (84%) told the union body that they wanted regular hours of work.
The majority (80%) of students on zero-hours contracts also reported that they had experienced difficulties managing studying and education alongside their work. TUC General Secretary Paul Nowak said: “Young workers deserve to be paid a fair rate for the job. “But hundreds of thousands of young workers are currently suffering a huge pay penalty – because of an outdated and discriminatory system.
“Young people up and down the country face the same cost of living pressures as everybody else. They shouldn’t be getting less for doing the same work as other workers. “This is something that unions have been campaigning to change for years – the government is right to tackle this injustice.
“And Labour’s flagship Employment Rights Bill will also help tackle insecure employment – something young workers are disproportionally affected by.”.
