I say laughable, in an if-you-don’t-laugh-you’ll-cry kind of way – but despite my dire financial situation, I considered myself lucky. A job, in the industry I wanted to work in! Untold providence.
Today, much pearl-clutching is afoot in response to a comment that unemployed young people won’t get out of bed for less than £40k a year – but to that I say, absolutely fair enough.
But gone are the days when a few hundred pounds a month could rent you half a studio flat, like when I was in my early twenties. The average rent in the UK has gone from £720 in 2014 to £1326 in 2025 – a near-doubling in just over a decade. It’s depressing but not surprising, then, that more than half of 20- to 24-year-olds lived with their parents in 2023.
Hold up, because I can hear the uproar from here – I am perfectly aware that many people in the country earn less than £40k a year and live perfectly nice lives, thank you very much. However, that is largely possible because their early adulthoods unfolded under different circumstances, allowing them to strike out on low pay while they figured out their next steps; to save along the way, and even eventually buy their own place.
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I'm an older Gen Z - please don't lump me in with the boring younger onesRead More
While average salaries have gone up, from circa £27k in 2014 to £37k in 2024, that increase is a pittance in the face of today’s economic reality and inflation.
What’s more, those who went to university likely paid at least £30k for the privilege – doesn’t a salary that reflects that investment seem reasonable? In the politest possible terms, young people starting out today are screwed, even on £40k — that’s enough to rent somewhere, but probably not to save for a house deposit. And with that security off the table, stuck in houseshares or living with parents, why shouldn’t Gen Z expect some extra cash for holidays or nice experiences to balance out the gloom of their arrested development?
I got out of bed for much less than £40k when I was Gen Z’s age, but I could afford to because things were cheaper. As a freelance journalist, I’ve hardly taken the sensible economic route – but I’m OK, and that’s because I had the good fortune of starting 10 years ago.
Honestly, I have no idea how someone in the same boat today would make it work – demanding reasonable wages is just the beginning.
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