Ipod generation turned off politics, claims thinktank
Britain’s youth have little time for politics because of the rush to find a decent job to pay off student debts, a new study has found.
With graduates leaving university this year with debts of around 10,000 pounds or more, rightwing thinktank Reform, said they were receiving a raw deal from their investment.
The study labelled under-35s the “Ipod” generation – insecure, pressured, over-taxed and debt-ridden youngsters, a “cross-over generation” forced to pay for the welfare state without receiving tangible benefits.
Reform said the under-35s were economically worse off than their parents were at the same age.
The study said Britain’s youth were paying more taxes to help support the country’s ageing population, despite facing poor pension returns themselves and ominously high property prices.
Professor Nick Bosanquet of Imperial College London, one of the report’s authors, warned young people were burdened with masses of commitments, making it much more difficult for them to raise incomes, generate wealth and foster and entrepreneurial spirit.
The report claimed the Ipod generation suffers from high levels of risk adversity given the debts accrued at university.
As such, it called for the scrapping of the government’s target of getting 50 per cent of young people in higher education, arguing there were simply too many graduates without identifiable skills in an already crowded employment market
The report said an average graduate could expect to earn 150,000 pounds more than someone with A-levels over the course of a lifetime.
The government predicted graduates would earn 400,000 pounds more.
The thinktank said lower taxes and cuts in public spending could entice young people back to politics.
