This country as gone into terminal decline

[Carmes]

I have 2 young children in school.

I am becoming more and more anxious about what sort of jobs / careers they will have open to them.

I work for very large company with 10,000s of employees.

20 years ago whe I started work here there would be 100s of entry level jobs at any given time. These are jobs that don't require experience or a degree, ideal for a school leaver, and I know dozens of people who started their career this way.

Now there are maybe 10 jobs that would fit the same criteria.so. All the jobs have been offshored.
Now are the vacancies are for very specific technical skill set or experience.

This doesn't bode well for someone who has left school at 18'or even university.

If my ds wants to go in to business, finance or tech I will be encouraging him to.do a degree apprenticeship with my employer - they pay £20k per year and pay for the degree while he also works there and gains experience- and he is guaranteed a job when he finishes.

Government spending is forecast to keep rising yet tax revenue is no where near. We cant tax our way out of this. We need serious economic growth and reduction in spending. Which feels impossible as everyone wants their bit from the state

It is impossible

A lot of them do for sure! That's why Reform has become so popular. Populism in the UK, the US and some European countries.
Of course, the politicians love it. Much better to have the rats fighting amongst themselves than demanding the politicians do a better job.

I’m sad to say it, but the baby boomer generation is starting to die of old age. And their departure will free up a lot of housing for the younger generation.

The Tories have utterly destroyed this country’s infrastructure and Labour don’t have enough money to fix it, but they do at least have different priorities. So, we might see an improvement in the next few years.

Climate change will be an increasing problem this century, so it’s dismaying that most of our young people have lost their freedom of movement. But from that point of view, there are far worse countries to be stuck in than the UK.

Duplicate post

I find myself agreeing with all your posts!

Mississipi is considered the poorest state in the USA and they still beat us on some stats regarding gdp and average income (depending which source you use).

how depressing

Very true. I teach software engineering and I do worry about my students who are all basically good at maths and logical reasoning. A couple of years ago they were taking up the plentiful entry level roles in tech and finance but now all those jobs are gone. Thousands chase after every posting. It's a total and sustained collapse.

Some are emigrating, and the ones staying are going for things like HGV. There's nothing wrong with HGV but it makes me really worried about the future of this country if there are no opportunities for smart hard working people who are interested in abstract reasoning.

I think owning a home especially in the South of the UK is just a dream now

maybe in the SE, but for many couples if they are sensible and save into ISA for a deposit from when they start working - it's not a dream.

Not going to uni and starting work at 21 on NMW would bring in c£24k so not difficult to save £6-8k a year. Over 6 years that is £36k-£48 and if two people do this individually and then get together they would easily have £70k to put down as a deposit on an average house price of £290k leaving a £220 mortgage over 35 years

Young people should be encouraged to have an ISA as soon as working and put in set amount monthly,

many of my ds friends have done this, saved on the side for their future house purchase in x years time with no plans to do so until they have a resnabeo deposit. Then when they do need to buy a house due to meeting someone etc they have the funds. Average house price where we are is £350k, but they've purchased smaller 2 and 3 beds as starter homes

No one has a 'right' to be employed though. You have to have skills that are in demand. It's a sad fact that funding for arts and creative industries are the first to go when there is a COL crisis.

Well, @Strikeoutnow some of it is.

If you have 10 houses for rent and 10 people want them-fine.
If you have 10 houses for rent and 12 people want them-not fine.

If you have 10 school places and 10 children want them-fine
if you have 10 school places and 12 children want them-not fine

If you have 10 hospital beds and 10 patients want them-fine
If you have 10 hospital beds and 12 patients want them-not fine.

You cannot have 1 million people enter the country from other places and not provide more stuff. never in the history of man has a gallon fitted into a pint pot.

It's not rocket science.

Well it’s always been a bit of a race to the bottom in this country Education-wise. We were far behind the USA, Germany, and Japan in business education in the C19th. The cult of the ‘practical man’ and all that.

A strong economy is diverse. It has space (and respect) for creatives, academics, trades, services, and everything else. And all the economic interdependence of these fields. Above all, it needs a resilient workforce that has critical thinking skills. Education. And a respect for education at all levels and in all forms. However, sneering at education sometimes feels like a national sport.

I’m sad to say it, but the baby boomer generation is starting to die of old age. And their departure will free up a lot of housing for the younger generation.

But can they afford it?

I think this will depend on how much parents can support. My parents were twitchy about me doing an English degree back in the 90s. They couldn't see where it would get me. An Art degree would have blown their mind and they wouldn't have supported it. It already seems as though musicians/ actors etc are increasingly from more mc backgrounds. I suspect it will be like my parents' generation, where you work to live and your creativity comes out in your hobbies. Which is really quite depressing.

I agree.

Plus, there are all sorts of legal and logistical barriers to working for a company based in X country while being resident full time in Y country. All those stories of folks living in a cheap villa by the beach in Brazil while living off their salary from rainy Britain are mostly a fantasy.

It's worrying for many of us, for the next generation.

Encourage your children to travel and go where the work is. They will need to have diverse skills, open minds and confidence in themselves.

If you focus on life skills and people skills they will thrive in any environment.

If you doom and gloom they will pick that up!!

I see so many people in my industry moaning and whinging about the lack of work (creative) my reply would be go where the work is.. they are mostly single younger demographic who sit their bums in the UK moaning. The US creative industry is strong. Asia has lots of opportunities.. if you really want the work you need to find it.

Not going to uni and starting work at 21 on NMW would bring in c£24k so not difficult to save £6-8k a year. Over 6 years that is £36k-£48 and if two people do this individually and then get together they would easily have £70k to put down as a deposit on an average house price of £290k leaving a £220 mortgage over 35 years

How do you save 8k a year & pay rent?

renting will be the norm just as it is in the rest of Europe

The rest of Europe has much higher state pensions.

In this country people are desperate to own their own homes, because if you are still renting when you retire you face an old age of grinding poverty.

@MyLadyGreensleeves its not the immigrants fault that we haven’t invested in infrastructure. Have you looked at school rolls? They are declining. We need immigrants economically, it’s why no government has tackled immigration despite what they say.

I'm not sure what the answer is to get out of this trap of "managed decline".

Welfare dependence, and I include state pensioners in that because why wouldn't you, is extremely hard to reverse via democratic means because who wants to vote to remove their own benefits?

Reform isn't the answer - not because I think they're bigots or something - but because their populist promise is for more state spending.

renting will be the norm just as it is in the rest of Europe

We have a slightly different renting model to other countries….

How do you save 8k a year & pay rent?

how many 21 year old do you know that are renting their own place?

I don't know any LL that will rent to someone earning under £40k per year

I lived through the 70s. High unemployment, strikes, power cuts, oil crisis, Cold War. Intolerance of gay people was such that to be open about it was actually dangerous. The police advice during the Yorkshire Ripper reign of terror? Girls and women should stay indoors.

I see so many people in my industry moaning and whinging about the lack of work (creative) my reply would be go where the work is.. they are mostly single younger demographic who sit their bums in the UK moaning. The US creative industry is strong. Asia has lots of opportunities.. if you really want the work you need to find it.

By encouraging those that can to leave it does somewhat exacerbate the problem….