This long story by MIchael Janda from the ABC intergenerational inequities, is one of the best I’ve read. As a resume writer and employment specialist working in Adelaide and Wollongong, I see young people getting shafted every day. They are the Australia’s future. They need the Government to pull its finger out and help them.
Economists are leading a debate about whether now is the time to start rolling back social distancing restrictions in Australia, given rapidly falling new infection rates for COVID-19 and mounting economic and social costs of the widespread shutdown.
The profession is deeply divided, and that is mainly because there is no correct or easy answer. Only hindsight will conclusively determine whether Australia did too little, too much or just about the right amount at the right time to contain the spread of COVID-19.
But one thing that is abundantly clear already is that there is a vast disparity between the group bearing the heaviest cost of the economic and social shutdown — the young — compared to the group gaining the greatest immediate personal benefit from containing the disease — the elderly.
As much as it pains me to say it, I’m not really young anymore. And so I write this piece sitting in the front room of a house I own (well, own a small part of so far), on a work laptop from my publicly-funded employer with my (reasonably) secure permanent full-time job.
Not everyone in their mid-30s is this lucky, but at least a decent number of us are.
This financial security, on average, rises for those in their 40s, and even more so for those in their 50s, 60s and beyond who bought properties before or in the early stages of the largest increase Australian property prices have ever seen, and probably ever will.
This is even more true for most, but of course not all, of those in retirement, the overwhelming majority of whom own the home they live in outright, meaning their basic living costs are extraordinarily low and asset wealth significant even if they do have to get by on the pension.
The majority rent privately (around 60 per cent) and the minority who don’t will have only just purchased their home, paying record (or close to record) prices in most cases and with the vast bulk of their mortgage debt still hanging over their heads.
Almost no-one in this age group owns their home outright or has a subsidised public housing rental.
Yet the support measures announced by governments (federal and state) have done little to help private renters other than making it harder for landlords to turf them out immediately.
When the crisis ends, it seems many in this group of predominantly young people will be left with thousands of dollars in rental arrears or a credit black mark against their name if they fail to pay up.
Not only do some in this group have large debts — and most few assets or savings, with large regular rent costs — they are also more likely to be precariously employed as casuals, contractors or in the gig economy.
A 2018 Australian Industry Group report revealed that three-quarters of workers under 20 were employed casually, 42 per cent of those in their early 20s and 18 per cent of those in their late 20s or early 30s.
The rate of casual employment then drops off to around 13-14 per cent for middle-aged workers, before ticking back up slightly for those over 60. Obviously, many young people choose casual work because of study commitments, but for others it’s all they can get.
Either way, on both the principle of last in, first out and who is easiest and cheapest to fire, young casuals generally get hit hardest by any economic downturn in terms of job losses and financial hardship.
History shows the damage to career prospects and earnings is often long-term, even permanent.
For more on this story got to:
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-04-24/coronavirus-risks-widening-intergenerational-economic-divide/12178410