Competency claims regarding junior wage rates

This invited article is a revised version of a paper presented to a Department of Employment, Workplace Relations and Small Business seminar on Junior Wages and Youth Employment, Melbourne in March 1999. The author asserts that developing a non-discriminatory alternative to age-based pay is extremely difficult and that none of the proponents of competency-based pay have been able to come up with a viable alternative to the current system. He maintains that the abolition of age-based provisions in awards is thus likely to have the immediate effect of increasing pay rates for many teenagers, with the substantial risk of pricing them out of jobs. He looks at the 'so-called alternatives' and provides an appendix of submissions to the Junior Rates Inquiry Supporting Non-Discriminatory Alternatives.

This invited article is a revised version of a paper presented to a Department of Employment, Workplace Relations and Small Business seminar on Junior Wages and Youth Employment, Melbourne in March 1999. The author asserts that developing a non-discriminatory alternative to age-based pay is extremely difficult and that none of the proponents of competency-based pay have been able to come up with a viable alternative to the current system. He maintains that the abolition of age-based provisions in awards is thus likely to have the immediate effect of increasing pay rates for many ...  [+] Show more