UK millennials ‘still wearing economic scars’ of 2008 financial crisis
Millennials in the UK continue to be significantly worse off than those in the US, a new study revealed, highlighting the impact of the UK’s persistent weak economic growth since the 2008 financial crisis.
While millennials in the US have mostly recovered from the impact of the 2008 crisis, their contemporaries in the UK continue to wear the “economic scars” of that period, according to a new research from the Resolution Foundation.
The disposable income of British people in their early 30s is one per cent lower than the equivalent cohort’s income before the financial crisis, the study found.
In contrast, the economic prospects for US millennials has improved since the financial crisis. Americans in their early 30s are now earning 21 per cent more than their predecessors at the same age in 2007.
The think tank pointed out that sluggish wage growth in the UK has brought to an end decades of generational progress, in which each generation has enjoyed higher disposable incomes than their predecessors.
“Young people across advanced economies were hit by the financial crisis, putting a stop to decades of progress where each generation enjoyed higher living standards than their predecessors,” Sophie Hale, principal economist at the Resolution Foundation, said.
“15 years on, this ‘crisis cohort’ are no longer young. And while many US millennials have bounced back, their counterparts in Britain are still wearing economic scars as they approach middle age,” Hale added.
“The lack of progress made by millennials in the UK shows how important it is to restart meaningful growth in the UK, but also to ensure that policy decisions recognise the need for the country to work for younger generations,” she said.
Income growth in the US across the board has been significantly higher than the UK in the period since the financial crisis. Between 2007 and 2021, median household incomes grew by 17 per cent in the US compared to just two per cent in the UK.