TUC general secretary elect Brendan Barber

Union chiefs have pressed the government to introduce a minimum wage for teenage workers.

The move comes as part of a bid to boost wages that can be as low as £1 an hour.

Ministers are shortly expected to announce increases to the present £4.20 an hour adult rate and £3.60 an hour youth rate.

Workers under the age of 18 are not covered by the minimum wage, but TUC general secretary elect Brendan Barber has called for that practice to end.

A report to the TUC Young Members Forum in Lincolnshire said that a "modest" rate of £3 an hour would increase the pay of 65,000 workers aged 16 or 17.

A rate of £3.60 an hour would give a pay rise to 290,000 young people, the TUC said.

Barber said that ministers should stick to their pledge to end poverty pay.

"A government report from two years ago said that the days of employers paying workers £1 or £2 per hour are gone.

"But there are still reports of 16 and 17 years olds being exploited in this way and without an enforceable minimum wage they have nowhere to turn," he said.