Job cuts expected if youth minimum wage rises

The number of job opportunities for young people will fall if the minimum youth wage is increased, according to the Central Planning Bureau. If the minimum youth wage is increased by 1 percent, there will be 0.4 percent less jobs available to young people. The more the wage increases, the greater effect it will have on employment opportunities, NU reports. "The uncertainty about the effects is high. Increasing the legal minimum youth wage carries the risk that the internationally low youth unemployment will rise", according to the CPB. If the minimum youth wage is abolished for 21 and 22 year olds, employment opportunities for this group will decrease by 5 percent. That means that there will be 15 thousand fewer jobs available for people in this age group. Depending on the variant of increase chosen, the effects on job opportunities for 15 to 20 year olds can range from 1 to 20 percent. That means between 5 thousand and 120 thousand fewer jobs for young people in this age group. The CPB expects that particularly smaller jobs of less than 12 hours a week will disappear with the increase of the minimum youth wage. The Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment asked the CPB to look into what effect increasing the minimum youth wage will have on employment. The minimum youth wage is a percentage of the legal minimum wage for adults, depending on how old you are. It ranges from 30 percent of the adult minimum wage for 15 year olds to 85 percent for 22 year olds.