Transcript

Young people today are under pressure from low wages, precarious employment, high housing costs, student debt and high taxation. They cannot get on with their lives, and they see the welfare state retreating from their generation. While politicians chase the grey vote, young people are made to feel that it's somehow their fault. It didn't use to be this way. Previous generations got a free higher education, could buy a home in their twenties, have decent jobs and now have generous pensions and universal benefits. A combination of austerity from the fallout of the global financial crisis, increasing globalisation, wage squeezes and low growth have all hit young people at the same time as many countries' populations are ageing. It means younger workers have to support more people in retirement and spend more on health and social care, placing increasing strain on the contract between the generations at a time when young people are least able to afford it. We need a new social contract – one that ensures each new generation has better prospects than those before, a contract that is fair to all generations. Join IF in calling for a fairer future for younger and future generations.