After a recent rise in youth unemployment, according to the Office for National Statistics, concerns have grown about whether a rising minimum wage is making firms reluctant to take on younger workers. Alan Manning looks at the evidence of the effects of setting minimum wage rates by age, and argues that the evidence is too weak to blame youth unemployment on the minimum wage. But, there are also good economic arguments for having a higher minimum wage for older workers.

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11 March 2026

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LSE British Politics

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https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandpolicy/reducing-the-youth-minimum-wage-would-be-a-mistake/

This Blog is published under the centre's Labour programme.

This publication comes under the following theme: Unemployment and job search