According to a recent study, although nearly three-quarters of workers between the ages of 15 and 19 could be legally paid less than the minimum wage, they are actually paid more.
The study, which was carried out by the Low Pay Commission with funding from the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), also discovered that about 80% of the 15,000 people who do receive a sub-minimum youth rate identify as students.
Minimum wage is currently €11.30 per hour, but it will rise to €12.70 in January.
However, employers are legally permitted to pay employees under the age of 20 less than this.
At least 70% of the full adult minimum wage must be paid to those under the age of 18, 80% must be paid to those 18 and older, and 90% must be paid to those 19 and older.
A person is legally required to start earning the full adult minimum wage the moment they turn 20.
According to the data, only 5.6% of Ireland's workforce, or 120,000 employees, received the full minimum wage last year, while 1.4%, or 30,000 people, were paid less than the minimum wage.
According to the ESRI, only 25% of people between the ages of 15 and 19 who are legally entitled to a sub-minimum rate—roughly one in every 140 employees, or 15,000 people—are actually paid it.
Either a higher rate or the full minimum wage is paid to the remaining amount.
Women make up slightly more than half of those who do receive a sub-minimum youth rate, and over three-quarters of them are employed in the hospitality, food, or retail industries.
"Sub-minimum youth rates in Ireland have received a lot of attention in recent months, as they have been criticised by some policymakers as being too low to allow a decent standard of living for young people," Dr. Paul Redmond, who wrote the report, said.
Few workers are on a sub-minimum youth rate, according to our research. In reality, the majority of young people who are eligible to receive less than the minimum youth rate are paid more."
Approximately 1,500 people between the ages of 15 and 19 who receive less than the minimum wage work for relatives, 6,500 are apprentices, and another 6,500 claim they receive less than the minimum wage for "other reasons," which could include receiving it illegally.
Apprentices, people working for close relatives, and prisoners engaged in non-commercial labour are exempt from the requirement to receive a minimum wage under the law.
Only 22 of the 27 EU nations have a legally mandated minimum wage, and only seven of those also have a youth sub-minimum rate.
According to the report, the primary justifications for sub-minimum wage rates for youth are that they can protect young people's wages when they decide to enter the workforce and make sure that wages aren't set too high as to deter employers from hiring them, thus promoting youth employment.
On the other hand, the primary defence of youth rates is that age shouldn't be a factor in discrimination and that equal pay for equal work should apply.
According to the study, if the evidence supporting the elimination of sub-minimum youth rates is given more weight, about 15,000 young workers would see an increase in their hourly pay of between 11 and 43%.
However, it may also result in a decrease in the number of hours worked or employment for some of these young workers, the bulk of whom are students.
The Low Pay Commission's chair, Ultan Courtney, stated, "The Low Pay Commission has been asked to make recommendations on these youth rates."
"We make evidence-based recommendations, and this research will be of great importance to us in our consideration of this important issue and will inform our recommendations."
Source: RTE