The Irish Congress of Trade Unions, is calling for the national minimum wage to increase by €2 from next year.
The union says it should rise to €13.30 from January, and by a further €2 in January 2025.
The minimum wage is due to be phased out by 2026 and replaced with a new living wage.
ICTU says recent changes to the tax system have mainly benefited middle and high-income workers.
Owen Reidy, General Secretary of ICTU, says young workers in particular have been let down by society and the economy.
"54% of people on the national minimum wage are under 24 years old.
"Those workers have taken the brunt of the cost of living crisis.
"Many of the tax changes that the government have introduced in recent years and plans introduced this year don't affect those workers".
But Financial Advisor and Analyst, Karl Deeter, thinks raising the minimum wage would put lower-paid jobs at risk:
"When this was studied in the USA, where they do very deep statistical analysis, they said raising the minimum wage - in their case it was $15 - would lift a million people out of poverty. I mean, that's a really good outcome.
"The not so good outcome is that it would result in 1.3 million job losses and have a higher future barrier to job market entry, particularly amongst young men and amongst minorities".
