Commodity prices have already gone up sharply around the world and many other prices seem to be headed north. To fight COVID-19 the government has printed huge quantities of new money and many economists are predicting the result will be a sharp rise in inflation. Angus Hanton, IF Co-founder, asks what this would mean for the old and the… Read more »
Category: Employment
Young people hit hardest by rising unemployment
As we approach the milestone landmark of a year since the first UK lockdown began, newly released data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) reveal just how damaging this past year has been for young people’s employment prospects. Lizzie Simpson, IF Researcher, explains
Economic impact of COVID-19 continues to disadvantage younger people
Last week, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) published new data detailing the current state of the UK’s labour market and businesses. This has revealed not only the damaging impact that the COVID-19 pandemic is continuing to have on the UK’s economy as a whole, but also the disproportionally negative impact that it is having… Read more »
Government should lift the state pension “triple lock” next year, argues Treasury Select Committee
A new report from the House of Commons Treasury Select Committee has made a range of recommendations regarding how the government should address some of the economic challenges which the COVID-19 crisis has caused. One of its most eye-catching suggestions is that the “triple lock” on the State Pension should be lifted next year to… Read more »
“Crisis cohort”: What it means to graduate into a recession
As we enter what is forecast to be the worst recession in 300 years, one cohort that has felt the full extent of the COVID-19 pandemic is the graduating class of 2020. IF Research Intern Ellie Maher assesses what it means to graduate into a recession, and the impacts of this on both short and… Read more »
The scandal of state-sponsored age discrimination
The age bands that are applied to the National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage are examples of age discrimination, surely? Rosie Neville, second-year Economics and Politics student at the University of Bristol, finds this government-prescribed policy unacceptable – scandalous, even
A Kick in the Teeth
As the government launches its “Kickstart” scheme specifically aimed to help young people at risk of long-term unemployment, IF Research Intern Hugo Till fears that it will lead to them becoming entrapped in the nightmarish web of Universal Credit
Government Apprenticeships: Groundhog Day
Apprenticeship schemes are regularly wheeled out as the solution to getting young people into work, but they have consistently failed. Will it be any different in the new COVID world? IF supporter Ned Walker sets out the reasons why we might not be overly optimistic
Reflections on WIFW 2020: COVID-19 edition
For a second year, the Worldwide Intergenerational Fairness Week (6–12 July 2020) has been marked by a series of blog articles from around the globe – this time focusing on the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on young people. As the world tentatively emerges, blinking, from lockdown, the international public sphere seems in agreement: this… Read more »
COVID has forced Australia to re-evaluate its values
First bushfires, now COVID-19, Australia is reeling, and the young risk bearing the brunt. Sweeney Preston, a 22-year-old newsroom contributor for the FYA (Foundation for Young Australians) – as well as a comedian, cinema worker and anthropology student at the University of Melbourne – turns a critical eye on recent events, and describes how it… Read more »
