Almost a third of young people in Australia have been ripped off by employers.
A new study from the Melbourne Law School found 33 percent of almost 2900 workers under 30 surveyed had been paid less than $15 per hour, when the current minimum wage is $24.95 per hour.
Study lead John Howe said the study also found almost one in five (17.9 percent) had not been paid for all work completed, 9.5 percent had been given food or products instead of being paid in money and 8 percent had been forced to return some or all of their pay to employer.
“Wage exploitation is rife among employers who hire young people,” Professor Howe said.
“Young people don’t have much industrial knowledge or experience, so are easy to take advantage of. They are also unlikely to challenge an employer, as many of them are in insecure work and they worry about losing their jobs.”
He said the research found that there were many other ways in which employers exploited young staff, including:
- 60 percent had had to pay for work-related items or activities, such as uniforms, protective equipment, training or car fuel.
- 36 percent had been forbidden to take entitled breaks.
- 34 percent were not paid for work during a trial period.
- 24 percent had not been paid compulsory super.
“It was also reported that employers often cooked the books, presumably to avoid fair wage rates and the Tax Office,” Professor Howe said.
“Twenty-one percent of the young people said they were sometimes paid off the books, and 12 percent were always paid off the books. Eight percent never even received a payslip.”
He said only a third had gone to unions or agencies, such as the Fair Work Ombudsman, for help.
Download the report: Underpaid and Overlooked. The Wage Crisis Facing Young Workers in Australia
