The government says young people need help into work.

That may be true. Too many young people are stuck outside work, education, or training.

But help into work is not enough if the work still treats them as cheaper.

Young workers can do the same job as older workers and still be legally paid less.

From April 2026, the minimum wage for workers aged 21 and over is £12.71 an hour. For workers aged 18 to 20, it is £10.85 an hour.

That means a 20-year-old and a 21-year-old can work the same shift, serve the same customer, clean the same floor, carry the same stock, or stand at the same till.

The younger worker can be cheaper by law.

The usual argument is that lower youth pay helps employers hire young people. If younger workers cost less, employers may be more willing to take them on.

But that is not the same as fairness.

The issue is simple: if two workers do the same job, age should not make one of them cheaper by law.

If a younger worker needs training or support, give them training or support.

But if they are doing the job, carrying the pressure, and producing the value, they should not be treated as a discount worker.

Rent, food, travel, heating, phone bills, and shoes do not become cheaper because someone is 20.

So why should the wage?

This is where class appears.

It is not called class. But it works like class when poorer young people have less room to refuse low-paid work.

A young person with family money may be able to study, move city, wait for a better job, do unpaid experience, or say no.

A young person without that cushion may have to take what is offered.

That means the lower youth wage does not fall equally.

It lands hardest on young people who already have the least protection.

The government now talks about a youth employment crisis. It is offering new work experience and training places. That may help some people.

But it does not answer the wage question.

If young people are needed in the labour market, why are they still treated as cheaper labour?

If they are old enough to work, be managed, serve the public, and lose the job, they are old enough to deserve the same wage floor.

This does not mean every young worker has the same experience as every older worker.

It does not mean training does not matter.

It means the minimum legal value of the work should not fall because of the worker’s age.

Politicians use soft words about young people: opportunity, skills, work experience, and employability.

But underneath those words is a harder fact.

Young people are being told to enter work while the law still lets them be cheaper once they get there.

The simple point is this:

Same work should mean the same wage floor.

A country cannot say it wants young people to build a future while keeping them cheaper at the start of it.