NEW YOUTH MINISTER MUST BE APPOINTED, CHARITY URGES
Earning crummy wages? Still living with your parents? Worried about the future? The UK’s young people are experiencing a massive confidence crisis and “suspended adulthood” according to a new report.
Significant numbers of under 30s lack self-confidence and are at risk of mental health problems, with women worst affected, researchers have said. Low pay and lack of work in today’s Britain mean many are living with their parents and putting off having children, according to the poll of thousands of 18 to 30-year-olds by the Young Women’s Trust. Large numbers of young people (of both sexes) describe themselves as worn down (42%), lacking self-confidence (47%) and feeling worried about the future (51%).
The report’s authors warned that Britain was facing a “generation of young people in crisis” as it called on the government to take steps including creating a minister with responsibility for overall youth policy.
The charity is also calling for a commitment from government to move towards extending the National Living Wage to under-25s, something Graduate Fog has campaigned on since the NLW was first announced. Age-related pay is highly controversial among young workers, with even some employers – including IKEA – questioning whether it is fair. Dr Carole Easton, the chief executive of the Young Women’s Trust, which supports and represents women aged 16 to 30 struggling to live on low or no pay in England and Wales, said it was distressing that so many young people were struggling at a time of life traditionally characterised by youthful confidence.
“Make no mistake about it, we’re talking about a generation of young people in crisis. And while life is hard for many young people, our survey shows it’s likely to be considerably tougher if you are a young woman.
“It’s not in any of our interests to write off an entire generation. Much more needs to be done to improve young people’s prospects, including through creating a minister for young people, extending the National Living Wage to under 25s, delivering on government commitments to improve housing options for young people and tackling workplace discrimination.”
Of 4,000 18 to 30 year-olds, the No Country for Young Women study found that 43% of those polled still live at home and a quarter had to move back in with their parents because they couldn’t afford to live independently.
* DO YOU AGREE THAT YOUNG PEOPLE NEED THEIR OWN ‘YOUTH MINISTER’?
Have your say below…
I’ve certainly suffered mental health problems due the pressures of graduating at a bad time. I am on citalopram but am waiting to hear back from an interview so things could improve dramatically in the next few days.
There just isn’t the safety net that previous generations had. There isn’t the job security either.
I read a write up of this report in the Guardian today and all the comments below the line were about “entitled millennials” and “Generation Snowflake”. There is an awful lack of empathy in this whole debate.
I am not sure whether an obsolescent Political Process could ever address the needs of any demographic, and were a Minister for Youth ever to be appointed, they would simply be as useful as a dud.
There are serious issues at play… Generation Z (or alternatively known as GenK) are “Millenials on Steroids”, and have grown up in an environment under constant threat of terrorism, 24/7 access to social media, with their economic future torpedoed.
Plus, as suggested within Forbes Magazine during 2012, it is even suggested that “Social Media Managers should be under 25”.
I think that the only solution is through education, for youth to be informed over their rights, and not to be taken for granted…unfortunately, some are willingly prepared to accept an offer of work, not on an employed basis, but on an Unpaid Intern basis.
@ anon I graduated in the mid 1990s, there was never any safety net….if you are not Oxbridge/LSE/Imperial matreial, you are going nowhere…
I was rejected from the job I was waiting on. The job has in fact been reposted! When will this nightmare end?
What strikes me looking at people I know is that we aren’t very resilient and many of us seemed to fall apart on transition to the world of work with several of my friends needing antidepressants or counselling.
It’s all well and good for older generations to call us snowflakes but these are the people who raised and taught us. I think there is a real need to look at what went so wrong with us so the same mistakes don’t get made with kids today.
The good news is I have another interview next week. I’m getting interviews. I think it is question of interview technique. I don’t know how to answer some of the stupid questions thrown at me.
To return to the safety net comment. My parents had a council house. A secure tenancy where if the worst happened then housing benefit would cover the rent. My father had job security. He was employed at the same place from aged 16 to 46. That kind of security doesn’t exist anymore.
Let me add some context for y’all.
I have offers right now for MSc courses to kick start a career. All of them will cost up to £15,000 in fees with living expenses. Older generations didn’t have to spend this kind of money. This is in addition to undergraduate fees which tripled in 2012. This is outside of London btw, where living in for a masters will be like £20,000 +
This **** would make their heads spin.
This **** makes anyones head spin.
Listen up. If I could have walked into a teaching job or a solicitor trainee post like some, everything would be kosher. Unfortunately there are very few “sure things” in the jobs market in the UK.
STEM is also a scam. Got a 1st with published work and no grants AT ALL other than teacher training and the nuclear industry.
Perhaps this year I will apply for a PGCE. I mean, why the hell not? Everyone does it for the job security.
Interview tomorrow. An administrative assistant position with a well known charity. I’m just sick of the same silly questions. I don’t want to talk about conflict in a team I’ve worked in or a time I’ve disagreed with my boss. Sick of having to carry round all these silly scripted scenarios in my head.
You’re on a hiding to nothing as an administrative assistant. I did that before I graduated. Can’t live on minimum wage.
I don’t even look for that type of job. It’s pointless.
Well I was rejected for it in any case so never mind. Next interview is on the 14th. It is like Groundhog Day.
I was quite aware that the role was (a) a waste of my degree, (b) possibly a career dead end in that there would be little room for advancement.
The salary of 17600 was laughable. It is just that I have one pair of jeans that fit me. Jeans in my local Asda are £10-£12 and I was thinking about how I could own a few more pairs…
The biggest problem from my point of view is the lack of decent jobs and sky high accommodation costs. By decent jobs I mean those that will actually pay you enough to live on without some kind of subsidy. By accommodation costs I mean the inability to accumulate wealth since even if you move away from home you feel like a mug for working since a majority of what you earn disappears into someone else’s bank account.
I see plenty of jobs being advertised, but they tend to be on very insecure fixed/temp terms for pitiful amounts (14k-18k around London area is pretty poor). Also, they tend to be in areas I have absolutely no aptitude for or desire to be involved in (care, babysitting, labouring, hairdressing, secretary, sales, call-centres, admin assistants). The graduate schemes are extremely difficult to get into and in any event don’t tend to recruit from those who graduated a long time ago.
So where does that leave us exactly? Trapped. You can’t apply for the more highly paid roles because they require shed-loads of experience which you can’t obtain because it is difficult to get past the work-for-free-hope-for-a-proper-job situation (aka the internship racket). Some people understand this more that others. It has become very difficult to make progress and live (rather than merely survive) in this country if you start out in a position of low-wealth, which will be the case of most people.
I don’t understand what the issue is on this website, because everyone I know has been successful in some form and none of us started out rich. On of my maths friends is a trainee actuary through a grad scheme, one did history and now works abroad, I got offers for software jobs, even my new next door neighbour left education early and does landscape gardening and now has a house. What subject / grade / uni did you all go to?
Interview Friday.
I was thinking today about how life might have been different if I had never attended university. I’m starting to see a lot of adverts for apprenticeships for school leavers. My younger brother wants to take this route rather than 9k fees. Perhaps there is a wider cultural shift. Seems ridiculous to regret getting a degree from somewhere that boasts of being a “top 10 UK university”. When I was a sixth former it was the gold standard. I remember flicking through the Virgin ‘Good University Guide’ in my local Waterstones. Getting into somewhere like Bristol, Nottingham or Durham was the dream. How times change.
I wouldn’t say I’m having a crisis of confidence but I do feel very agitated because I’m not where I want to be in life at 28. At my age I want a career, a good income, options and a partner. In a few years I’d like to have children and a house of some kind. I can’t really get any of this until I get the work issue sorted, and university hasn’t helped.
I graduated in 2015. Before I went to university I was working minimum wage and lots of job ads stated a degree as a requirement. Being impressionable and under pressure to do something with my life I decided to go for it, after all, a lot of my friends from college had graduated. It’s still difficult to say if I should have done an apprenticeship as many of them are dead ends too. There are very few certainties in the jobs market. Even learning a trade is difficult and in no way guarentees a career.
So many people (mainly older people) have said the “world is my oyster” with the degree that I have. In the past that may have been the case but not now. On paper I can say I’m a published physicist with a first class degree. In reality it means very little? I’m not going to repeat all the rejections I’ve faced as I’ve posted about it countless times on here, but I have had very little success with employers. The best opportunity I had was in sales for a photonics company but that got filled by another phys graduate.
I regret the degree that I chose. In fact, I’m posting this because I’ve just read an article on the kent university website from an (employed) graduated that annoyed me – “Don’t come back from university and get a menial job while ‘deciding’ what to do”. Oh… thanks for that. Some of us don’t have much of a choice. This graduate did operational research and I wish I had done as it has real world value and jobs at the end of it.
I applied for an MSc in operation research but I’ve put the brakes on as it will cost £8000 (plus living expenses). My father has told me he will put money towards my course but I can’t accept it. My parents are retired now and should be making the most of their time. I don’t want to be sponging off them, it’s just not right.
I also applied for graduate medicine (sent the applications off yesterday) but that is competitive and the NHS isn’t looking like a great place to work right now.
I am in limbo, basically.
Waiting to hear back from an interview today. They said I would find out Monday. Not good for my nerves at all. Not my dream job but then nothing I apply for is these days!
Hi all – this is a great thread, thanks to everyone who’s commented so far. It really captures the day-to-day reality of graduate job hunting (the highs and the lows!).
On that subject, a hard-hitting new survey has just launched today, exploring the TRUTH about graduate job hunting (the good, the bad and the ugly!). We helped E.ON put it together so if you’ve got 60 seconds, I’d be really grateful if you could share your views. Plus there’s a chance to win Amazon vouchers worth £50!
http://bit.ly/2dVxjSp
Thanks everyone – and best of luck with your job hunts 🙂
Tanya
As 2016 ends I am feeling in a reflective mood
The good news…
-I am in employment but it is just a maternity cover position. £21,5000. They might be trying me out with the view to a full-time position or they might be getting rid of me by the summer of 2017. At least I am earning. Aware I may be job searching by the summer though 🙁
But…
-I am still a bit worried as to how much damage graduating into a recession has done to my career long-term. Being unemployed and even being under-employed for long enough can go against you in the jobs market. At what point (if ever?) is the slate wiped clean?
-I feel like I am years behind some of my peers who landed on their feet. Some are well established in their careers now and I can’t help but compare myself to people who are well on their way to establishing themselves in professional jobs. In contrast I feel like I am just starting out.
Wonder what 2017 will bring…