Acelya Onal, IF Student Intern, looks at what France’s “Nicolas, 30 ans” can tell us about the breaking down of the intergenerational social contract in the UK.
Who is Nicolas, 30 ans?
Nicolas, 30 ans, or his British counterpart Nick, 30 years old, is your everyday, university-educated, white-collar worker in the city. He represents the average young professional who went to university, moved to London to get a job, and has ended up spending almost half of his salary on renting a one-bedroom flat in the city. His rent funds the leisure of his likely elder landlords, who already benefit from a gerontocratic system in which taxes are disproportionately spent on pensions, social care, and healthcare for the older generation.
Although he was born out of a meme posted on X, its popularisation in France is no surprise, as French pensioners now have higher incomes than working-age adults. Meanwhile, UK pensioners are protected with the seemingly untouchable triple lock. Nicolas’, or “Nick’s”, experience resonates deeply as it speaks to a very real disdain young people feel at the fraying of the intergenerational contract in the UK.
Nor is it just a question of young men, for every “Nick” there is a “Nicole” as well.
A generation of apathy
The cynical tone of the meme is reflective of a broader apathy amongst younger generations. Voter turnout for 18-24 year-olds and 25-34 year-olds is at historic lows, hovering below 40%. Meanwhile, General Election turnout for 65+ year-olds has been almost double at around 75%. This has meant the main political parties have received few electoral repercussions for continually neglecting the material problems and burdens young people face.
Younger people appear more disillusioned with the democratic system and have become more vulnerable to the overpromises of more hardline parties, like Reform UK. Attempts to explain Reform’s success by their strong social media campaign fail to take into account the effects of 14 years of decline under the Conservatives and continued neglect from Labour. Reform’s scapegoating of immigrants provides an oversimplified answer to a problem that took decades of underinvestment to construct.
Nick vs Simon and Linda
Wage stagnation in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis has worked in tandem with growing house prices to create a desperate situation for young professionals for whom homeownership appears increasingly out of reach.
The case for young Brits is particularly bleak. If wage growth in the UK had followed that of the US or Germany post-financial crash, workers would have an extra £3600 per annum. With almost a third of peers in the House of Lords being landlords, attempts to protect renters’ rights through legislation such as the Renters’ Rights Bill are often met with strong opposition, further undermining faith in the government to address this crisis.
Thus, a growing proportion of young people are opting to live at home with their parents and saving money on rent, with figures hitting 21% during the COVID-19 pandemic. While this does help shoulder the burden of higher living costs, younger people are reaching key milestones such as moving out and starting a family much later in life.
By contrast, Simon and Linda, Nick’s landlords come from a generation that was granted a social security net, which has now been mostly yanked away from Nick and his counterparts. This is a generation that, for the most part, benefitted from affordable housing, free university education and generous pensions.
As of 2022, the average house price was around 9 times the average salary in the UK, whereas it would have cost around 4-5 times the average salary when the Simons and Lindas of the world were young adults. This, alongside low or stagnant wage growth, has ensured that the young professionals and workers of today, who feel that they did everything right by investing in their educations, meet barriers that prevent or delay their attempts to become homeowners themselves.
The fertility dilema
Crucially, the current system presents further problems for the future of the welfare state and the upholding of the intergenerational contract. The UK is following the trend of declining birth rates across the world, with the fertility rate in 2023 being 1.44 children per woman, despite 2.1 being the figure needed to maintain the population at the current level.
While this could be for a number of reasons, the undermining of the intergenerational contract for the younger generation is undoubtedly a tremendous hurdle for young couples who may want to start a family but don’t feel that there is enough material support from the state. Additionally, young adults lack the sense of security that comes with homeownership and stable careers, further discouraging them from parenthood.
As a result, Britain faces the problem of a declining workforce and aging population. In 2016, there were 305 people of pension age for every 1000 person of working age in the UK. This is set to rise to 367 pensioners per 1000 workers as soon as 2042. As the State Pension operates on an unfunded ‘pay as you go’ basis, the burden falls on Nick and other workers, and this burden will only become larger in the coming decades. While this image of pensioners using this money for leisurely activities such as cruises may seem cartoonish, there are many real cases of pensioners using state support, such as winter fuel payments, for holidays.
Is the contract broken?
The intergenerational contract is premised on the idea each generation contributes their fair share to the system and, as a result, each generation is then able to equally experience the benefits of high-quality public services. However, in many ways, this contract is under unprecedented strain, and this meme presents a very pertinent image of a generation disappointed and betrayed by the system they were taught to believe in.
This is not to fully endorse the meme. The surrounding discourse contains some very unsavoury elements around immigration and foreign aid, which are symptomatic of the worst parts of internet culture. Nor should we condemn or blame Linda and Simon. They have simply made rational decisions based on the incentives and opportunities presented to them. It is the policymakers who have repeatedly pandered to the grey vote for short-term political gain, at the expense of young and future generations, who are to blame.
The only way to rebuild and sustain the intergenerational contract is to end the stripping down of essential public services and the extortion of young professionals and workers trying to make a start in life. Making the tax and transfer system fairer for younger generations will help repair generational ties and create less resentment amongst the young.