Britons across all age groups no longer believe that young people today will have a better life than their parents, according to new analysis by Ipsos MORI for the Resolution Foundation published this weekend.

The report, based on a survey of over 2,000 adults commissioned for the Think Tank the Resolution finds widespread concern about young people’s prospects that is shared across society.

Overall, people were more than twice as likely to say that young people today will have a worse standard of life compared to their parents (48%) than a better standard of life (23%).

There has been a sharp turnaround in views compared to 15 years ago, as the proportion of people who think their children will have a better life than them has halved.

This pessimism was strongest among those with a degree (57% of whom think young people will have a worse standard of life than their parents) and those earning over £55,000 a year (55% worse, compared to 44% for those earning under £20,000).

While concern was strongest among millennials themselves (53% worse), their pessimism was shared by generation X (47%) and baby boomers (44%).

Young people’s concern about their own prospects is so strong that, highly unusually, many would rather have grown up in an earlier time – despite major social, technical and economic progress.

One in three millennials (33%) agree that they would prefer to have grown up when their parents were children, compared to 32% who disagree.

In contrast, just 15 per cent of baby boomers and generation X said they’d prefer to be a young person growing up today.

This widespread pessimism comes despite people thinking that young people will be better off than their parents in many aspects of their lives.

The survey’s youth outlook scores (the proportion of people saying that the young will have a better life than their parents on certain issues, minus those saying they will be worse off) were strongly positive in terms of access to information and entertainment (+67), traveling (+34), freedom to be true to themselves (+26) and education (+22).

But the Think Tank found that in the public’s perception of young people’s prospects, these positive social gains are far outweighed by the huge economic challenges the young face.

The survey found one concern in particular outweighing all others, with a huge majority believing young people will be worse off than their parents in terms of owning their own home.

Other economic worries included whether today’s young would have a comfortable retirement or a secure job.

Laura Gardiner, Senior Policy Analyst at the Resolution Foundation, said:

“The idea that each generation should do better than the one before is a principle underpinning British society, but Britons no longer believe that young people today will be better off than their parents.

“That such an anxiety has taken hold despite decades of economic growth, technological advances and growing social freedoms suggests we have failed to ensure that these gains have fully fed through into young people’s living standards and prospects.

“This living standards anxiety is so strong among millennials that many would prefer to have grown up when their parents were young rather than today. Of course cheaper flights and smarter phones are great, but they’re no substitute for a secure income and a home of one’s own.

“Widespread concern about the prospects of young people is likely to have been one of the driving factors behind their higher turnout than in recent decades in June’s election. Addressing their core concerns about housing, job security and lifetime living standards should be a top priority for all parties, not least because these concerns for young people’s futures are shared by voters of all ages.”

 

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