Not at all sure that we are, and in many ways it's a very patronising thing to say. I am lucky, I had a lifelong, secure, career in teaching & have a good pension. So I'm not in the same position as people on temporary or part time contracts with no job security, and certainly have never been made redundant or been unemployed through no fault of my own.
I came out of college with a degree equivalent qualification & knew that I would get a job after 3 years of study & GCE A & O Levels. I could even chose where I wanted to work, & if I didn't like it I knew I could easily get another similar job anywhere else I chose.
So I feel very sad for all the young people who have come out of education, at whatever level, and have no idea where or how they are going to get a job, let alone a secure career. There is something very wrong when intelligent, qualified people have to work in retail, coffee shops or bars. Or, worse still, can't find work at all. If significant numbers of our young people don't have hope & a productive & worthwhile life, society will, in the end, pay the price.
For the really privileged elite who now run this country it is even more offensive for them to say that "we are all in this together". They are the product of privileged, often private education with it's network of contacts to ease the way. Their parents were either wealthy by birth or created their own wealth. Our leaders, by an large, have no idea what it is to be poor or to have limited choices in their lives. I would have more respect for them if they made an effort to live on an estate, do a dead end job, or even better, fired off dozens maybe hundereds of applications without even the courtesy of a response. If you haven't any experience of confidence sapping rejection you should try it.
If I'm honest I don't know anyone who is in this situation, but I do realise that there has been a mega shift in our society, and I do sincerely try to empathise. Sympathy is no good, it doesn't solve anything. Our young people need action - jobs and apprenticeships.
We aren't even fair about "Internships". What a misnomer. The poor can't afford to work for no pay, while those with reasonably affluent parents will have no problems. When did it become OK for even state run organisations to "employ" people to do jobs without paying them?
Cynically even the "Big Society" is run on similar lines. If volunteers keep vital organisations going without pay they are depriving people of jobs. We have always had a tradition of volunteering & I have had volunteer jobs ever since I got medical retirement over 20 years ago. So I do think it is worthwhile, both for the individual and for society. But not at the expense of precluding young people from working or getting vital services on the cheap.
Increasing the age of retirement may solve one problem, although I doubt it. But it will create more. We need the elderly to retire to create movement upwards in the jobs market. It isn't rocket science. If the elderly stay in their jobs, the young won't have those jobs.
Creating a degree culture has raised the expectations of young people. Now we have far too many graduates & not enough jobs. We have put our young people in the position they are in today & we should do something about it, because it isn't acceptable.
I came out of college with a degree equivalent qualification & knew that I would get a job after 3 years of study & GCE A & O Levels. I could even chose where I wanted to work, & if I didn't like it I knew I could easily get another similar job anywhere else I chose.
So I feel very sad for all the young people who have come out of education, at whatever level, and have no idea where or how they are going to get a job, let alone a secure career. There is something very wrong when intelligent, qualified people have to work in retail, coffee shops or bars. Or, worse still, can't find work at all. If significant numbers of our young people don't have hope & a productive & worthwhile life, society will, in the end, pay the price.
For the really privileged elite who now run this country it is even more offensive for them to say that "we are all in this together". They are the product of privileged, often private education with it's network of contacts to ease the way. Their parents were either wealthy by birth or created their own wealth. Our leaders, by an large, have no idea what it is to be poor or to have limited choices in their lives. I would have more respect for them if they made an effort to live on an estate, do a dead end job, or even better, fired off dozens maybe hundereds of applications without even the courtesy of a response. If you haven't any experience of confidence sapping rejection you should try it.
If I'm honest I don't know anyone who is in this situation, but I do realise that there has been a mega shift in our society, and I do sincerely try to empathise. Sympathy is no good, it doesn't solve anything. Our young people need action - jobs and apprenticeships.
We aren't even fair about "Internships". What a misnomer. The poor can't afford to work for no pay, while those with reasonably affluent parents will have no problems. When did it become OK for even state run organisations to "employ" people to do jobs without paying them?
Cynically even the "Big Society" is run on similar lines. If volunteers keep vital organisations going without pay they are depriving people of jobs. We have always had a tradition of volunteering & I have had volunteer jobs ever since I got medical retirement over 20 years ago. So I do think it is worthwhile, both for the individual and for society. But not at the expense of precluding young people from working or getting vital services on the cheap.
Increasing the age of retirement may solve one problem, although I doubt it. But it will create more. We need the elderly to retire to create movement upwards in the jobs market. It isn't rocket science. If the elderly stay in their jobs, the young won't have those jobs.
Creating a degree culture has raised the expectations of young people. Now we have far too many graduates & not enough jobs. We have put our young people in the position they are in today & we should do something about it, because it isn't acceptable.
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