The Council of Trade Unions has welcomed the Government's decision not to support Roger Douglas's youth minimum wage Bill. "We are pleased that the Government agrees that paying young people less for doing the same work as an older person is fundamentally unfair and will do nothing to alleviate unemployment," said CTU President Helen Kelly.

"There can be no justification for wage discrimination on the basis of age. This Bill was nothing but the reactionary twitch of a dying ideology and I am glad that the Government has seen sense in promising to vote it down."

"The Government now needs to focus on tackling youth unemployment through expansion of programmes like its Youth Opportunities programme and with further economic stimulus initiatives. This is also the time to invest in skills training for young people for their own benefit but also to address the ongoing skill shortages facing the country."