Jobs for young, not idealism, Business SA chief Nigel McBride says I AM not a young person but I am the father of young people who have been through the process of getting their first job. There is no general right to a job - the world simply doesn't work that way. Young people have to be competitive in the job market, when competing for jobs with older and more experienced job seekers. Wage policies need to balance wage rates against employability and not price less experienced young people out of work. For many decades, young people less than 21 years of age have been paid wage rates lower than the adult rate, an "incentive" for employers to employ them. The lower wage rates have enabled young people, including university students, to obtain their first job and become skilled and experienced in the workplace. Recently the Shoppies Union made an application to the Fair Work Commission to have anyone 20 years and older who works in retail paid adult wage rates. If the union is successful, the longer term aim is to widen that to include 18 and 19 year olds. That would be detrimental to young people because it will make it much harder for them to get a job. Many employers will choose to employ people over 21 rather than employing a less mature and inexperienced young person. If an employer is faced with paying an inexperienced young person the same rate as someone 25 years old and experienced, the employer is most likely to employ the 25 year old. And it is not only employer representatives saying this. Renowned labour market economists such as Mark Wooden have said that the abolition of junior wages will have a "catastrophic" impact on youth employment. What is also concerning is that the Federal Government is fully supporting the union claim to increase junior wage rates. It claims that increasing the wage rates will only have a limited impact on business. The Federal Government has simply got it wrong. The impact on young people getting employment will be devastating. At the end of the day we need to create employment opportunities for our young people and governments must assist in doing this. Our unemployment rate in SA is 6 per cent (second highest of any mainland state in Australia), but our youth unemployment rate is 24.1 per cent. The last thing that South Australia needs is more unemployed young people. Our focus must be on getting more young people into work and reducing youth unemployment. Higher wage rates are of no benefit when you don't have a job.