{"id":15989,"date":"2018-08-22T16:50:34","date_gmt":"2018-08-22T15:50:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=15989"},"modified":"2020-11-12T12:58:17","modified_gmt":"2020-11-12T12:58:17","slug":"young-people-south-west-generation-gap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=15989","title":{"rendered":"The generation gap"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Young people in the South West are struggling in low-paid, insecure jobs as their older peers fare better, according to new TUC research<\/a> showing a growing generational pay gap.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The wage gap between people under 30 in the region and over 30 has more than doubled in the last two decades \u00e2\u20ac\u201c in 1998, the gap was just over 11 per cent, or \u00c2\u01411.15 an hour in 2017 prices; this figure shot up to 25 per cent last year, or \u00c2\u01413 an hour in 2017 prices.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Now, a person over 30 working full-time can expect to earn \u00c2\u01416,240 each year more than a person under 30. In 1998, the pay premium for full-time workers over 30 was only \u00c2\u01412,392 adjusted for today\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s prices.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bYoung people are getting a raw deal at work,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 said TUC regional secretary for the South West Nigel Costley. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bToo many are stuck in low-paid, insecure jobs, with little opportunity to get on in life.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThis is the most qualified group of workers ever. But huge numbers of hardworking young people are struggling to meet basic living costs \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and many more can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t afford a home of their own or are putting off having children.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bJoining together in a trade union is the best way to get a better deal at work. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s why we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re committed to reaching out to more young people in workplaces where there isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t a union.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Unite acting regional secretary for the South West Steve Preddy agreed. He said that he did not find the latest research surprising.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bYoung people in the South West face a deluge of zero hours contracts, agency work and other insecure forms of employment, which are typically much lower-paid,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bWith insecure work also often comes bullying and other forms of abuse.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bEven though many young people may be eminently qualified \u00e2\u20ac\u201c as the TUC highlights workers under 30 are the most qualified group of workers ever, with a large share of them being post-graduates \u00e2\u20ac\u201c they still bear the biggest brunt of austerity and, having come of age during the financial crisis, they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve inherited an economy that simply doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t work for the ordinary working person.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The figures published this week (August 21) are part of wider research the TUC <\/a>has conducted on young people and work nationally.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Of the young people the TUC spoke to, about 1 in 4 people between the ages of 21 and 30 said they struggle to earn enough to meet their basic living costs.\u00c2\u00a0One in 5 said they skipped a main meal in the last year because of a shortage of money, while 1 in 3 young parents said they did.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Nearly half of the young people surveyed said they had to borrow money from friends or family to make ends meet, while about a quarter said they went without heating in the last year or were forced to sell or pawn something.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The vast majority \u00e2\u20ac\u201c nearly 70 per cent \u00e2\u20ac\u201c did not feel that their current job makes the most of their skills and abilities. This figure shoots up to 84 per cent for those in part-time jobs.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Preddy said sectoral collective bargaining \u00e2\u20ac\u201c for all industries and all types of work \u00e2\u20ac\u201c is an important solution to the plight of young people stuck in insecure work.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Unite assistant general secretary Steve Turner agreed.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bAn outright ban on zero hour contracts, tighter laws to prevent bogus self-employment, the introduction of sectoral collective bargaining and a \u00c2\u014110 minimum wage would go a long way to rebalancing the labour market,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bCrucially, the government must give trade unions improved access to workplaces. This would stop young workers from being prevented from organising for better wages and conditions by exploitative employers.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Young people in the South West are struggling in low-paid, insecure jobs as their older peers fare better, according to new TUC research showing a growing generational pay gap.   The wage gap between people under 30 in the region and over 30 has more than doubled in the last two decades \u00e2\u20ac\u201c in 1998, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2047,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[135,165,71],"wps_subtitle":"Young people in the South West falling behind older, better-paid workers","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15989"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15989"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15989\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25947,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15989\/revisions\/25947"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2047"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15989"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15989"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15989"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}