Kids not alone on low pay: Mark

Carterton Mayor Ron Mark has sympathy for young people but says it isn't just youth who are suffering because of economic cutbacks and believes those with drive and genuine talent can still prosper.

"In Wairarapa it's not just about a [limited] number of jobs for young people. There is not an abundance of jobs for adults either, and under-employment is an issue," he said. "You would hope if young people have the skills and abilities, that their remuneration package should reflect that, regardless of the youth wage."

The Carterton representative said low wages were a significant problem in the region.

"I worry how we can grow our region on a low-wage economy. I think that low wages are one of New Zealand's hallmarks. We really need to pump up our exports and get focused on [maximising] our manufacturing sector."

Mr Mark said he was aware of Labour's support for the Living Wage initiative, which was successfully piloted in London. He said the difficulty for a small business was that if you paid an adult wage to a young worker it could lead to a situation where the growth potential was sapped out of an enterprise and "they simply plod along".

"I always look at things and think, 'Are they sustainable?' If we [ordered small stores] here to pay their employees $18 an hour, I wonder how many would still be in business in town and how many would still be employing anybody."

South Wairarapa Mayor Adrienne Staples said she didn't think the youth wage would lead to significantly greater hardship. It was far better for the young to have an opportunity to gain experience and subsequently further their careers.

Mrs Staples agreed trying to survive on $11 an hour would be a tough proposition for most.

"It's probably as difficult as it was for people to survive on the minimum wage of $10 an hour. Trying to live on it will be difficult and in an ideal world people would earn more but I don't think people's salaries are ever high enough."

She doubted more young people would go to Australia for work as a result of the legislation, set to come into effect on May 1.

"I don't think so, I think the people who go to Australia are people who can't get jobs in New Zealand. We're very fortunate to have Australia so close, otherwise we could be like some of the European countries which have almost 50 per cent unemployment and no option at all."