Green Party proposes

Green Party would abolish the training wage to address apprentice poverty.

“Low pay, insecure work, and a lack of pastoral support mean that instead of focusing on learning their trade, our apprentices spend too much time worried about making ends meet.”

Current training wage

Training wage is $19.16, 80 percent of adult minimum wage of $23.95.

Apprentice numbers low

Apprentice numbers at 15-year low due to low pay and insecurity.

“Low pay, insecure work, and a lack of pastoral support mean that instead of focusing on learning their trade, our apprentices spend too much time worried about making ends meet.”

Green policy details

Greens offer $2000 equipment grant and $380-a-week stipends for health workers.

“The Greens' costings, which have been verified by Infometrics, have put the policy on $117.35m a year for four years.”

Labour's stance

Labour wants to review training wage impact on youth employment.

“The key thing we'd want to look at there is making sure that we're not doing anything that makes things worse for younger employees.”

ACT's proposal

ACT plans to reduce training wage to 60 percent of minimum wage for three years.

Opposition views

National, New Zealand First oppose Green policy on business costs.

“No, we want to make sure that businesses actually take a chance on young people, and it's one of the ways that they might just step out and actually take a chance on a young person.”