Recession hit hardest at generation now in 20s and mid-30s

A global debate is taking place about the plight of the Millennial Generation and the “intergenerational inequalities” they face such as debt, housing and joblessness. These Millennials (also known as Generation Y) were born between 1980 and the mid-1990s and are now in their 20s and 30s.

Here in Ireland, the recession and austerity scarred Generation Y through unemployment, suicide and self-harm, and emigration. For many young Irish people, as the Rubberbandits put it, “they don’t see a future”.

In regard to suicide and self-harm, the International Journal of Epidemiology has published research showing how the "economic recession and austerity in Ireland have had a significant negative impact on rates of suicide in men and on self-harm in both sexes".

For example, the male suicide rate was 57 per cent higher in 2012 than pre-recession trends, while male and female self-harm rates were 31 per cent and 22 per cent higher respectively. This means that between 2008 and 2012 there were 476 more male and 85 more female suicide deaths, and 5,029 more male and 3,833 more female self-harm presentations to hospital. And it is the younger generations who have been hit hardest by this unprecedented increase in suicide and self-harm (as the highest rate for men was those aged 25-44 and for women it was those aged 15-24).

Meanwhile, the youth unemployment rate (15-24) hit a high point of 30 per cent in 2012. This was double the highest rate hit by the general unemployment rate (for those aged 15-74) in this recession. In the “recovery”, the general unemployment rate has fallen to 8.8 per cent but youth unemployment is still at an extremely high 20.1 per cent. Added to the difficulties of unemployed youth is the fact that the austerity reduction to social welfare for those under 26 remains in place (with those under 25 on €100 a week versus €144 for 25-year-olds and €188 for those over 25).

Lost to emigration

Generation Y has also been hardest hit by emigration. In 2008, just 13,000 Irish emigrated but this figure climbed to 50,000 in 2013. Last year, despite the “recovery”, 35,000 emigrated – three times pre-recession levels. The age group that experienced the highest net loss to emigration (after you include migration into Ireland) was those aged 15-24 who lost 20,000 per year between 2011 and 2013. Contrast this to the total net loss of about 4,000 for those aged 45-64 in those same years. Last year, we lost 15,000 young people to emigration, which is 30 times the loss from the age group 45 to 64.

Many factors influence these higher rates of unemployment, emigration and associated mental health issues. Public sector employment, pay rates and a wider trend of casualisation of work are important yet receive insufficient attention.

The public sector and Civil Service (guards, nurses, teachers, civil servants etc) have traditionally been a large source of employment for new college graduates and school-leavers. However, it was effectively shut off to young people because of the public sector recruitment moratorium which ran from 2009 until last year. As a result, numbers employed in the public sector fell dramatically from 369,000 in 2008 to 327,100 in 2015. Generation Y was effectively shut out. The average age of Civil Service staff is close to 50 and just 4 per cent are under 30.

To compound the generational discrimination we have the situation where new entrants to the public sector since 2011 are on a 10 per cent lower pay scale than those employed prior to 2011 (this is on top of the other pay reductions applied to all).

Younger workers also face a growing problem of “casualisation” or “precarious” work, which is short-term, temporary and lower-paid. In third-level colleges, for example, younger researchers and teaching staff increasingly have little job security with negative impacts on academic standards (including the restriction of academic freedom) and student support.

I was born in 1979 and although not officially part of Generation Y, many of us in our mid- to late-30s have also been hit hard by these generational inequalities. As a community worker and contract lecturer, I experienced the challenges of precarious, short-term work. As my personal responsibilities increased (mortgage and young children), I was left with little choice but to leave my precarious lecturing situation, as austerity cuts to college budgets have reduced the possibility of permanent employment.

Exploitative work schemes

This is part of the well-identified pattern in developed countries of an employer-led (both private and public sector) “race to the bottom” to reduce wages, job security and benefits (such as pensions) to cut costs or maximise profits. We have seen young unemployed workers in Ireland forced into exploitative unpaid internships and activation schemes such as JobBridge where employers take advantage of cheap labour. JobBridge interns have even been used to fill positions of teachers, community workers and psychologists.

This casualisation and lower pay also leaves younger generations more exposed to the housing crisis as they are unable to afford escalating rents or get a mortgage. Along with huge childcare costs, this means Generation Y faces real challenges in starting a family.

Generational inequality (particularly youth unemployment, suicide and self-harm, casualisation, low pay and housing affordability) clearly requires a greater focus and the development and implementation of appropriate policies to address it.

Rory Hearne, senior policy analyst with think tankTasc, is a candidate for the Senate for the NUI panel.