UK youths hit worst by economic crisis: Think tank

Young people in Britain have been hit the worst by the country’s economic crisis and have experienced the biggest drop in salaries, a British think tank says.

The Intergenerational Foundation (IF) said in a report published on Monday that the median gross weekly salaries among those aged 18 to 21 in Britain have dropped by more than 19 percent in real terms since 1997.

Those over 50 have, on the other hand, seen a 25 percent increase in earnings over the same period.

In addition, the report showed that the pay divide between younger and older British workers has risen by more than half since 1997, with those in their 50s earning 2.6 times more than the workers aged 18-21. In comparison, the figure was 1.7 in 1997.

The report called on policy-makers in the UK to focus more on helping to protect the younger people.

“This double squeeze on wages and living costs provides yet further evidence that younger generations are lagging behind older generations both in terms of relative pay and the cost of living. The young are the new poor and policy-makers must do more to protect them,” said IF co-founder Angus Hanton.

The British Chamber of Commerce has recently called on Chancellor George Osborne to focus on youth unemployment, as 917,000 people aged 16-24 were without work in the last quarter of 2013.