Teenage subminimum wage sparks debate By STEPHEN KNIGHT Of th« Emerald University students who com pete with teenagers for part time jobs may have a problem if Pres.-elect Ronald Reagan keeps his campaign promise on the minimum wage. Reagan has said he hopes to reduce unemployment in part by lowering the minimum wage for teenagers. Teenage unemployment hovers around 18 percent. For black teenagers it’s about 3d percent. According to propon ents, a subminimum wage law would give businesses an in centive to employ jobless teen agers who occupy the lowest strata of the job market. Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, recently predicted that when "the minimum wage goes up to $3.35 an hour, thousands—no hundreds of thousands—of kids will lose their jobs because businesses just aren’t going to pay that much for young people who are only worth $2.50 an hour." Hatch, the new chairer of the Senate Labor Committee, and others believe a subminimum wage would give thousands of idle teens a chance to join the country’s work force. But not everyone agrees. Irv Fletcher of the Lane County Labor Council claims the subminimum wage proposal is nothing more than “a subsidy for big businesses.” "Lower wages would just give businesses an incentive to re place older workers with cheaper teenage labor,” Fletcher says. Fletcher says he doesn't see why paying young people less would create more jobs. In theory, part of the cut in wages is a price for training an un skilled worker, but 99 percent of teenagers' jobs require no skill at all, he maintains. “It takes a kid about 15 min utes to learn his job at McDon ald’s.” Fletcher says McDonald’s, which employs thousands of teenagers, is the major ben eficiary of such legislation, along with businesses such as janitorial services, restaurants, motels and nursing homes. But Karl Frederick, employee benefits director of the As sociation of Oregon Industry, says it's "ridiculous” to assume the proposal is a plot to put money in the pockets of big business. I op