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
Category: Government policy
The unexpected impact of COVID-19 on green investment
Green investment has reached record levels this year, in spite of the pandemic. IF researcher Melissa Bui explains why investor-demand for more transparency on climate risks is rising, and how pension schemes may lead the way in fulfilling investors’ requirements
How much is COVID-19 affecting young adults’ mental health?
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) recently released a large amount of very detailed data about the ways in which young adults’ lives have been affected by the COVID-19 crisis. David Kingman explains what these data say about the impacts of the virus on young adults’ mental health
Siberia Burns: the politics of heat
The recent heat wave in Siberia poses a serious threat to Russian infrastructure – and to the planet. IF Research Intern Anthony J. Piwowarski shows how successive Russian governments have pursued a politics of ecological ruin. Even now, the current administration remains ambivalent towards its environmental obligations.
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 »
A Letter to Future Generations
Rebecca Freitag – Ambassador for the Stuttgart-based Foundation for the Rights for Future Generations and a former UN Youth Delegate for Sustainable Development – has asked herself this question: “How I will explain this historic, COVID-induced opportunity for a new beginning to my children and grandchildren – and how it finally turned out?” She imagines… Read more »
The scars of COVID-19
The COVID-19 pandemic is laying bare intergenerational inequities that have already deepened after the Global Financial Crisis and will be significant challenges for the post-COVID recovery, argues Lukas Sustala, Director of NEOS Lab, the Vienna-based think tank and academy of NEOS, a liberal Austrian party. In his book Zu spät zur Party (“Too late to… 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 »
China: pandemic preparedness for ageing populations
For pandemic preparedness, every country best adopts an economic demography strategy, writes Lauren A. Johnston, Research Associate, SOAS, University of London. China’s unique long-run approach is very much shaped by its demographic history, and its responsibilities towards its ageing population.
Australia under COVID-19: still “the lucky country”?
The disease itself may have touched Australia relatively lightly, but the wider consequences have hit the young particularly hard, especially in employment. Danielle Wood and Owain Emslie, CEO and Senior Associate respectively at the Grattan Institute in Melbourne, reveal the facts and figures, and the broader patterns that underlie them.