I always thought there should be a lower minimum wage for folks under 18 to encourage companies to hire teenage workers.
There should actually be NO minimum wage.
I got my first regular job by apprenticing for free at a local gas station where my friend worked. Did that for probably two months. One of the regular employees quit, so guess who got hired to replace him? For pay!
Re lower wages for young teens, I agree. We don’t hire kids to pick crops anymore because we have to pay them prevailing wage. They have no skill set or work ethic, and I have to pay them $18 to train and babysit? No thanks. 20 years ago we would employ kids for 3 hours a day, they learned how to show up on time, put some sweat in and earn some extra scratch for music, games, whatever. Those days are long gone. Good job leftards.
When I was a kid, I never heard of an adult working for the minimum wage. The minimum wage WAS, in effect, a teenager’s starting wage for a part-time job after school.