The Dutch system for youth minimum wages: expressing concern about age discrimination and the rights of young people

Abstract

The present article examines the Dutch system of youth minimum wages, the system which provides for lower wages for those younger than 21. One of the main reasons behind this policy is to promote employment of young people entering the labour market. There is a lot of economic literature which analyses the effects of minimum wages on youth employment. However, the topic of youth minimum wages has not been addressed from the perspective of the rights of young individuals; the literature has paid little attention to the discriminatory character of the system of youth minimum wages. This paper argues that the system of Dutch youth minimum wages clearly disregards the rights of young people and leads to discriminatory outcomes. The paper calls to further investigate the effectiveness of this policy by taking into consideration its discriminatory character and the effects on the rights of young people.