Why Do the Young Earn Less Than Other Workers?

After dealing with the young people I shall turn my attention to the adult workers (i.e. the "other workers"). I will determine their rate of pay through a second survey that will provide me with the second set of answers with which to test my theories. The comparisons I will make must be with like and like so I will only survey unskilled adult workers who possess similar jobs to the young people. As the young people will mostly be attending school or some other form of education they can usually only work part-time and therefore I shall compare the hourly rates of pay. This will help to confirm the validity of the initial enquiry as to indeed whether young people are paid less than adult workers are.

Once this has been confirmed I can then look at the demand side of the investigation, the employer. Again I will produce a set of hypothesis as to "why are young people employed?" and I will produce a questionnaire to be given to employers of young people that will answer my hypothesis, particularly as to how the wage rate affect the amount of young people they employ.

These surveys will be my primary research into the investigation however I will be looking to use secondary research to further support or contradict my hypothesis. When I have collected the data from both surveys and secondary research I use I will use the data and graphs that I have constructed to discuss my findings as to "why do young people (want to) work" and "why are young people employed".

Having done this I intend to create some hypothesis as to "why young people are paid less?" and presenting my demand side and supply side findings from my research as to "why young people are paid less?" Finally from these findings I will make my ultimate conclusions as to "why are young people paid less".

During this investigation I will make use of a number of economical terms and concepts which I will explain here:

* LABOUR human effort available for production

* SUPPLY the quantity of a commodity that is offered for sale at a price over a period of time

* DEMAND the quantity that a buyer is willing and able to buy over a period of time

* EXCESS SUPLLY a situation where supply is greater than demand, leading to a glut of commodities on the market

* EXCESS DEMAND a situation where demand is greater than supply leading to a shortage of commodities

* SUPPLY AND DEMAND OF LABOUR the amount of people available or required to be employed at a price i.e. wage

* MARGINAL REVENUE PRODUCT the addition to revenue gained by employing an extra factor such as a worker.

I will now detail my hypothesis as "why do young people work" and "why are young people employed?"

"Why do young people work?"

. Does the amount of pocket money a young person receives affect the likelihood of them wanting to work?

2. Do long term career ambitions influence a young person's decision to supply their labour? (E.g. is a person looking to become a doctor and aiming to be successful in exams less likely to work in a part time job than someone intending to work as a manual labourer.)

3. Is the nature of the jobs school children supply there labour to unskilled

"Why are young people employed?"

. Do young people work hours that are considered unsociable for an adult

2. Are young people employed because they do not need to be paid the minimum wage

3. Are young people employed because of a youthful image factor popularised by the firm

Finally I will outline my hypothesis as to "why do young people earn less than other workers:

Supply factors:

. The young will accept a lower hourly wage rate because they can afford to i.e. they have lee responsibilities such as families or mortgages

2. The young are paid less because they have less deductions form their wage such as income tax or national insurance

3. Is there an excess supply of young people willing to work which would have the effect of lower wage for young people

4. Is the supply of young workers price inelastic i.e. will workers carry on workers despite a lower wage

Demand factors:

. Firms do not need to pays as much to get young people to work for them

2. Firms have a lower demand for young people because they are often less strong, qualified, skilled or experience than their older counterparts meaning a lower wage rate

3. There is lower demand for young people because they are less flexible in their hours of work

4. Young people offer a lower marginal revenue product than an adult counterpart (M.R.P) hence the demand and wage rate for them is lower