I promise not to allow this post to descend into a ‘lets have a go at the UK’ but I have been thinking a lot about how many young people in the UK (those not from a priviledged background) are faced with a pretty bleak financial future compared to their parents / grand parents and surprised no one has written much about this
So I have listed a few very good reasons why young people should think about spreading their wings.
EDUCATION
I was very lucky to come out of University with small debts in the 90s and to have fees paid for by the local authority but this will possibly never be the same again now the government have allowed the Universities (and Old Polys) to hike fees to a staggering £9000 a year!
As expected many of the universities have indeed chosen to max out their fees demand. Why pay £9000 here when all over Europe courses are being offered in English for less than a third of the cost. Add in the opportunity to escape the UK’s relatively high living costs and the challenge to experience new culture and a language.
HOUSING
Young people are the priced out generation and unless there is a huge drop in house prices then some may never own their own home. In London this is unlikely to ever happen mainly due to masses of overseas money propping up prices in the capital.
They are already being labelled ‘generation rent’ by the mainstream media. The good news is that most countries around the world have governments that have allowed their housing bubble to deflate naturally and perhaps with the exception of Australia, affordable housing is usually available, not just in depressed areas with little work.
The double edged sword is that rents have gone up to due to general lack of new supply and the wealthy hoarding portfolios of property.
SOCIAL MOBILITY
According to the OECD the UK has the worst social mobility of all western countries. Highlighting the UK’s lack of social mobility, the OECD said chances of a young person from a less well-off family enjoying higher wages or getting a higher level of education than their parents was “relatively low”.
From my experience of living abroad I have found countries like the USA, Australia, NZ to have much less of a class driven society where anyone can get on in life, not just those who were born to the right family.
PUSH AND PULL FCATORS
I have always believed that for anyone to go abroad there should be pull factors as well as push. People that leave the UK just because of immigration, over-crowding, tescos etc are often the ones that end up back where they start (1/3 of all Brits return from Australia).
I believe if the destination has pull factors, perhaps a little more than just a ‘nicer climate’, then there is a much better chance of it working out.
People from English speaking countries in particular are very lucky as there is a wealth of opportunities abroad for Englsih speakers due to the promotion of English as the business language of the world.
I think young Brits should take an advantage of this and will be richly rewarded for their skills if they get out into the big wide world.