Think tank's alarm on minimum wage

MINISTERS should abandon plans to equalise the minimum wage as the number of young people out of work or education threatens to reach one million, a think tank has said.

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Last year's budget saw Rachel Reeves announce plans to scrap lower minimum wage rates for under-21s, saying they were “discriminatory”.

But in a report today, the Resolution Foundation urged the Government to change course to stop young people being “priced out of entry into the labour market".

The think tank published research showing the number of young people not in employment, education or training (Neet) was on track to hit one million for the first time since the financial crisis.

Some 940,000 young people are now classed as Neet, with the figure having risen by 195,000 in the past two years.

Much of that has been driven by sickness and disability, which has doubled over the past 20 years and now accounts for more than one in four Neets.