Brock Backs Sub-Minimum Pay for Teens

Labor Secretary William Brock said today that he is uncertain whether a sub-minimum summer wage of $2.50 an hour for teen-agers will open more jobs to youngsters, but he believes youth unemployment is so high that “the idea deserves to be tested.”

Brock, testifying in favor of a sub-minimum wage bill for the first time, told the Senate Labor Committee that while he would prefer to solve the unemployment problem with more job training, lower summer pay for teen-agers may offer a partial, less expensive solution.

“There are estimates that a subminimum wage has the potential to create 400,000 more summer jobs for teen-agers,” he said. “We can’t prove our numbers. Nobody can. But the idea deserves to be tested.”

Elsewhere on Capitol Hill, opponents of the Reagan Administration plan, including labor unions and Chicago Mayor Harold Washington, spoke against the sub-minimum wage. They called the idea an insult to teen-agers that would result in their exploitation.