Are things harder for millennials?

[squidwid]

Many of my friends don't own houses and they're in their 30s. They did everything that society asked of them and still they're not making headway.

I know so many elderly people that live in 4 bedroom homes worth £400k plus. Obviously there is nothing wrong with that but families should be able to afford those houses so things can move on. No one can afford to buy them...

I want a proportional voting system, more money poured into primary education (since interference at this stage makes the most difference), to rejoin the EU and youth clubs to be around again.

Not a question of wanting the UK to lag behind. I very much doubt many citizens/ residents want that at all.
My point is that Blair's policy was putting the horse before the cart which was a mistake and that it's not an advantage to build up £££ of debt in order to end up with a similar level/ paid job with less purchasing power compared to what the previous generation could have walked into at 16/18.
We still need lots of workers who are relatively unskilled. Unfortunately, instead of these people having relatively secure jobs with a good sense of community and respect, they are now part of the huge number of people with poorly paid and insecure work.

'I don't see how it's possible to have a family, secure accomodation and hold down a good job without this kind of help in London.'

This is exactly what the OP is saying then. It is impossible for most Londoners without help and impossible/ very hard in many other areas too.

Honestly, your experience/ friends are not representative of the majority.

@Blossomtoes -I have no faith in Labour but would do anything to keep the current bunch to.

Rejoining the EU and proportional representation are very long term, while I agree with you I don’t expect to see either in my lifetime. Spending on education and youth services will definitely be in the Labour manifesto.

I sometimes wonder if 'aspiration' is part of the problem in a roundabout way.

There has been a drive towards education for years now and it's still very much regarded as the way to 'better oneself'. This is at odds with the fact that trades jobs pay more on average than both graduate and office jobs - (average of £10k more than graduate jobs per annum).

I was reading the thread a few days back about companies wanting applicants to jump through hoops for low paid office jobs. Pre interview chat followed by a group exercise day, followed by one, maybe two, interviews.

This is at odds with my company who are taking on newly qualified HGV drivers with no experience for almost £40k. One relatively brief interview and then a job offer if they seem ok. Obviously with this kind of job it's less about soft skills, but they still need to be pretty on the ball as you can easily kill somebody or cause thousands worth of damage in only a few seconds when working with cranes etc on construction sites/big civil projects.

The mind boggles.

Hey I still think we are whiny. Me included.

You can have it hard and be whiny. Ever met a lawyer?

You use British and in the UK, when really you just mean England. Maybe Wales too? But definitely not Britain or the UK.

Our working hours are really long. The partners are a bit psychotic. Most of my team have gone on stress leave at some point in the last couple of years and are on antidepressants.

None of that is Blairs fault, under Labour Tuition fee's were 3k per year, students got a mtce grant not a loan & health care students got free tuition my DD would have left Uni with a debt of £0k under Labour, not the £45k she has now and hyper hi interest rates and frozen repayment thresholds........

We also had decent inflation or above pay rises, until we had 13 years of Austerity (on going) corresponding low growth, almost no investment and low or zero pay rises under the the Tories, which is the main reason post grad's earn so little.

Plus Uni attendance was 24% in 2006 and 38% (max) under the Tories in 2021, yet once again, we hear the usually cry of "its Labours fault"

I'm sorry but almost all the UK's many problems are linked to the Tory Govt..... yet still people defend them.

I really do get that, after Brexit i went through a stage of just thinking about me and stuff everyone else but i've a DD and want a better world for her... long term.

Hand on heart? i don't know if Labour will do a better job BUT after 13 years of the Tories, where nothing at all has improved, i want to give them a chance, i do not believe they will be worse.

How could they be so incompetent as the Tories? today's National Audit Office report states the Tories have allowed £21billion of public money to be lost due to fraud, some it went to their own supporters, like Michelle Mone and her luxury yacht, have you such a boat moored off Marbella?

£21 billion! enough to give all NHS workers a 40% pay rise.

Don't you know,

Of course it 🙄 is,

That's why they are triggered by allmost freakin Anything .!

Hand on heart? i don't know if Labour will do a better job BUT after 13 years of the Tories, where nothing at all has improved, i want to give them a chance, i do not believe they will be worse.

I have an SNP gov where I live - believe me any party will NOT necessarily do a better job.

what age do you think millennials are? Quick, no googling.

Well........ you don't know that because there isn't a parallel world where the Tories have been running Scotland plus of course, Scotland isn't a separate country with an independent separate Govt, in control of borders immigration policy, full tax rising powers and full control over training places and capital build for the NHS.

The English Govt can over rule laws made there and despite Scotland voting to remain in the EU.... it was taken out regardless.

This annoys me too - people not realising Millenials are not Gen Z. I blame the name though - it sounds like we were born at/after 2000.

@Emotionalstorm your experience is unusual for any generation. Of course you have it easy if you have very very wealthy parents. 🙄

The comment re lawyers was not re millennials specifically. I made a light-hearted joke re lawyers being whiny and having it hard and was asked why they have it hard.

@pixie5121 You sound like a really awesome and strong person. I hope things are better for you now and you don't have those same worries re food etc.

I associate with people I happened to meet in school, uni and at work. I assure you I've not surrounded myself with the people I know on purpose. I did a science degree in uni; maybe if I did a humanities degree I would have a better understanding of what the average millennial had to go through. I do some pro bono work and the issues I see there do depress me so I avoid thinking about it (e.g. people who get a fine but are too poor to pay it but it keeps going up because the law lays out it's meant to increase over time so they end up owing insane amounts and there's not much you can do about it).