The union body found that more than 400,000 young workers aged 18-20 will benefit from the minimum wage uplift. It also found that almost half a million young workers (aged 16-24) on zero-hours contracts will see their circumstances improve thanks to the Employment Rights Bill.
The analysis is published during the TUC’s ‘Young Workers’ Month’ and estimates that 420,000 workers aged 18-20 across the UK are set to significantly benefit from measures announced by the Labour Government.
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 earnings gulf between 18-20-year-old workers and workers aged 21 and over will start narrowing – going from £2.84 per hour to £2.21.
The TUC supports the Government’s commitment to end discriminatory age bands for the minimum wage so that young workers are paid fairly.
How life insurance can benefit your health and wellbeing over the decades
Sponsored by Post Office
Zero-hours contracts
Ahead of the Employment Rights Bill reaching committee stage next Tuesday (26 November), TUC analysis shows that young workers aged 16-24 are almost four times more likely than the wider workforce to be employed on a zero-hours contract (13% compared to 3.4% of all workers).
The TUC said that 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. Thus, 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 and to challenge unacceptable behaviour by bosses because of concerns about whether they will be penalised by not being allocated hours in the future.
Paul Nowak, the TUC’s general secretary, 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 But hundreds of thousands of young workers are currently suffering a huge pay penalty – because of an outdated and discriminatory system.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.”
