No One Can Get a Job. It Changes Everything.

A whisper is going around friendship groups across the country: “No one can get a job.” Youth unemployment has reached a record high of 16.1%, yet across society no one seems to care. With no sign of this abating and its political effects appearing minor, the graduate hiring slowdown could transform the face of British politics.

The first challenge is that 16% is probably an understatement. Everyone my age can attest to friends taking gap years or doing a Master’s merely to try to wait out the labour market. Optimistic parents will say, “Have fun while you’re young and come back when things are on the up and up.” Therein lies the problem: there might not be an up and up.