The growing perception that social mobility across generations has declined is worrying some political leaders. They often react by declaring that they want more young people to get involved in politics.
Many of the younger people who get involved in politics do not represent the younger generation Z and millennials who are suffering most from social immobility. Young age is not necessarily a guarantee for fresh ideas, especially if a young leader has not experienced the insecurity that the current socioeconomic model entails.
Many younger people in the EU, including those with a good level of education, are still unemployed, underemployed or working in the black economy with little or no job security. Photo: Shutterstock.comAn honest acknowledgement by our societal leaders that today parents’ fortunes and advantages play a significant factor in young people’s lives is a first step to give the younger generations a better chance of climbing the social escalator fast enough.
European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen has acknowledged that today we have a situation where, for the first time since World War II, parents of young adults fear that their children will not be better off than them.
Most young people, of course, acknowledge that they enjoy better living conditions than their parents and grandparents did. Educational opportunities are more common and going to university is no longer an exceptional event in many youngsters’ lives. Low-cost travel has made it affordable to see the world. Society is more tolerant of issues of sexuality and mental health. Technology has helped all generations to communicate in a way that was not possible a few decades ago.
But the pillars of a sustainable lifestyle are no longer within reach of many younger people who cannot rely on the bank of mum and dad to overcome the financial insecurity that engulfs their lives.
These young people feel that they have to run faster just to remain in the same place. The social escalator has stopped or is moving too slowly for them.
Our politicians should focus on minorities they have so far ignored, in particular children who come from economically- and socially-distressed backgrounds
David Sturrock, an Institute of Fiscal Studies research economist, argues that at present, while the older generation still holds the wealth, it shows up in the date as a difference between generations. But wealth does not disappear. It flows down and then it moves on to be an issue about inequality within younger generations. He concludes: “It is basically saying how much you stand to gain depends on who your parents are and the wealth they have.”
Many European young people who cannot rely on their parents to make the first deposit on their home or get the seed capital they need to set up their own business often end up in temporary, fixed-term, agency or zero-hour contracts. The Financial Times reports that “temporary contracts are particularly prevalent for young people in the eurozone: almost half of working 15- to 24-year-olds were on temporary roles on the eve of the pandemic and job losses fell hard on this group”.
Many younger people in the EU, including those with a good level of education, are still unemployed, underemployed or working in the black economy with little or no job security. In Italy, for instance, one out of four younger people is unemployed.
Theories abound on how to fix the social escalator. Millions of jobs in the labour market have been taken over by machines and robots. Other jobs have become highly skilled and unavailable even to graduates with the wrong kind of qualifications.
Despite free education available in most EU member states, a university qualification − even if it opens the doors to a professional career − is no longer a guarantee to a sustainable and comfortable lifestyle. Law and accountancy graduates, for instance, are often employed in jobs that involve long working hours and where the cost to one’s health and personal life no longer seems worth the uncertain prize.
The future of any society depends mainly on the ability and willingness of young people to set up new family units.
This is crucially important for Europe, which has an ageing population, stagnant economic growth and political inertia that is jamming the movement of the social escalator.
The solution to this existential challenge is not just a better redistribution of wealth. Our politicians should focus on minorities they have so far ignored, in particular children who come from economically- and socially-distressed backgrounds. These are the minorities that matter most for the well-being of society.
Countries that in the past decades spent more on education tend to have higher educational mobility. But what matters is not only the public resources devoted to education and health but their quality, their effective use and targeting the disadvantaged.