Young workers are 'unacknowledged victims' of recession

The research also showed that young people are far more likely to be paid less than the National Minimum Wage (NMW) than other workers.
 
The academics' union studied data from the Government's Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) and found that, while weekly wages overall for full-time workers went up between 2009 and 2012 by 3.6%, wages for young people fell by 17.2% - leaving the average weekly wage of 16-17 year olds reduced from £178.60 to £161.40.

In 2009, the average weekly wage for 16-17 year-olds was 36.6% of the overall weekly average, but by 2012 it had fallen to less than one third of the average at just 31.9%. 
 
The analysis also showed that young people are considerably more likely to be paid at below the NMW. According to the ASHE data, an estimated 6.5% of jobs held by 16-17 year-olds were paid below the NMW in 2012, up from 5.7% in 2011. Across the whole economy the figure was just 1.1% in 2012 (no change from 2011), meaning that young people in work are five times more likely to experience low pay than their older peers.
 
The union's analysis comes ahead of the first unemployment figures since the Prime Minister told Conservative party conference that young people under 25 should be 'earning or learning'.

UCU said the analysis showed that the prevalence of insecure and poorly-paid employment, even for well-educated youngsters, meant the Prime Minister should move beyond sound bites and address the underlying issues which hold young people and the country back.

The union said education and training were vital to help young people, but that was only half the story. Without the prospect of secure, decently-rewarded jobs at the end of that process, young people would become increasingly alienated and less likely to take up opportunities to better themselves.
 
Recent research by ComRes showed that the overwhelming majority (88%) of young people not in employment, education or training (the so-called NEETs) want to work or study and over two-thirds (71%) believe they would contribute a lot to society if they got the right support.
 
UCU general secretary, Sally Hunt, said: 'Young people have been the unacknowledged victims of the recession, with those in work seeing their wages fall and those out of work seeing their opportunities reduced.

'Secure, decently paid jobs are critical to solving the crisis of youth unemployment. Research shows that most young people are desperate to work. Falling wages and little job security create a spiral of alienation and underachievement.

'Government, businesses, councils, schools and colleges and universities need to work together to help our young people to deliver a well-rewarded labour market, and high quality education and training.'