No? They have less experience and education on account of being young. Some teens may be geniuses who are better than anyone else, and business owners would be well advised to hire those genius teens at market rates, but some teens will not be as productive as their older counterparts and they shouldn't find themselves forbidden from working just because their labor cannot sell for more than minimum wage.
There are jobs where you don't need any experience and education anyways. The ones that are typically considered minimum wage jobs, like cleaning or restocking shelves. Employers shouldn't be able to hire teenagers for cheap just because they're younger, especially since a teenager isn't going to be less productive than an adult with those types of jobs.
Age is an upper bound on experience and is related to experience and education if not equal. The average 19 year old, all else equal, will have less experience and education than the average 45 year old in the same field. There are exceptions of course - but they are only exceptions.
I'm curious given your view that employers shouldn't be able to hire teens to do low wage jobs what you think about immigration. Is it the same thing, that we shouldn't allow low skill immigrants because they will compete for minimum wage jobs, or do you have a different view there and if so, why?
If you believe someone should be paid lower because of lower experience and education, then pay them based on their experience and education. Not on their age.
Otherwise, what experience and education do you expect that a brand new adult entering the job market to have that a teenager will not? An adult who needs (at least) minimum wage to be able to survive, and a week ago was a teenager. Who is going to hire such an adult when they could hire the teenager, with identical experience and education, for cheaper?
Low skill immigrants are still getting minimum wage aren't they? You're arguing that teenagers shouldn't even get that much. Or are you suggesting that low skill immigrants shouldn't get minimum wage either?
