School support staff will get a 5 per cent pay rise in what their union says is a ground-breaking national collective agreement.
New Zealand Education Institute national president Darrell Ward said the settlement with the Education Ministry would cover more than 6000 union members.
It offered a 2 per cent pay rise effective immediately, paid recognition of qualifications, a restructuring of pay scales and a 3 per cent pay rise next year.
Meanwhile the Government's push to raise the youth minimum wage means young, unskilled workers will be shunned in favour of older, more experienced job seekers, employers say.
Government sources have confirmed that the cabinet will today consider raising the youth minimum wage from $4.55 an hour to $6.05 over a period of one to two years.
It will also consider dropping the age threshold for the adult minimum wage from 20 to 18.
Employers Federation president Anne Knowles said pushing the youth minimum wage higher might actually hurt most the very people it was trying to help.
International data showed that for every 10 per cent increase in the youth minimum wage, there were 2-3 per cent fewer jobs available, she said.
Boosting the youth minimum wage and lowering the age threshold for the minimum adult wage are policies on which the Alliance and its Youth Affairs Minister, Laila Harre, have been lobbying their Labour colleagues.
The cabinet previously agreed in principle to lower the age for the adult rate to 18 and intended introducing the change in July.
But a backlash by business resulted in Labour putting a raft of its coalition partner's policies on hold, including those relating to youth workers.
Laila Harre recently told Parliament that most employers consulted over the options for a minimum wage review were paying above the youth rate to their younger staff.
They had suggested that raising the rate to 80 per cent of the adult minimum wage would make little or no difference to the cost of running their businesses.
She acknowledged, however, that a drop in employment among teenagers was expected if the youth rate were increased. The effect on employment overall, however, would not be marked.
The cabinet is also due to consider whether to raise the adult minimum wage, at present set at $7.55, compared with an average adult wage of $17.88 an hour.
- NZPA
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