Under-30s in particular are being priced out of owning their own homes, paid lower wages and left with diminishing job prospects. Those without the benefits of wealthy parents are condemned to languish on “the wrong side of the divide that is opening up in British society”, according to Alan Milburn, the former Labour cabinet minister who chairs the government’s Commission on Social Mobility.
Milburn said: “It is depressing. The current generation of young people are educated better and for longer than any previous one. But young people are losing out on jobs, earnings and housing.
“This recession has been particularly hard on young people. The ratio of youth to adult unemployment rates was just over two to one in 1996, compared to just under three to one today. On any definition we are nowhere near the chancellor’s objective of “full employment” for young people. Young people are the losers in the recovery to date.”
The median pay of a 22- to 29-year-old, £9.73 an hour, was more than 10% lower today than it was in 2006, according to Milburn. The pay of 18- to 21-year-olds, £6.73, is 8.8% lower. Both are at the same wage level as they were in 1998. The Institute for Fiscal Studies has highlighted that for those aged between 22 and 30, median earnings are 15% lower than before the recession, driven by a combination of lower hourly pay and fewer hours of work. This decrease is roughly twice the size as earnings decreases for the 30-59 age group.
The proportion of 18- to 24-year-olds in work fell from 65% at the start of 2007 to 56% at the end of 2012 and has only now recovered to 60.8%, despite some consistent economic growth in the last two years. He said: “Youth unemployment is still higher than before the recession and by the time of the next election around half a million young people will still be without work, enough to fill Wembley stadium five times over.
Milburn notes that even the Saturday job has become a thing of the past. The proportion of 16- to 17-year-olds in full-time education who also work has fallen from 37% to 18% in a decade.
Milburn said: “It is depressing. The current generation of young people are educated better and for longer than any previous one. But young people are losing out on jobs, earnings and housing.
“This recession has been particularly hard on young people. The ratio of youth to adult unemployment rates was just over two to one in 1996, compared to just under three to one today. On any definition we are nowhere near the chancellor’s objective of “full employment” for young people. Young people are the losers in the recovery to date.”
The median pay of a 22- to 29-year-old, £9.73 an hour, was more than 10% lower today than it was in 2006, according to Milburn. The pay of 18- to 21-year-olds, £6.73, is 8.8% lower. Both are at the same wage level as they were in 1998. The Institute for Fiscal Studies has highlighted that for those aged between 22 and 30, median earnings are 15% lower than before the recession, driven by a combination of lower hourly pay and fewer hours of work. This decrease is roughly twice the size as earnings decreases for the 30-59 age group.
The proportion of 18- to 24-year-olds in work fell from 65% at the start of 2007 to 56% at the end of 2012 and has only now recovered to 60.8%, despite some consistent economic growth in the last two years. He said: “Youth unemployment is still higher than before the recession and by the time of the next election around half a million young people will still be without work, enough to fill Wembley stadium five times over.
Milburn notes that even the Saturday job has become a thing of the past. The proportion of 16- to 17-year-olds in full-time education who also work has fallen from 37% to 18% in a decade.
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