UK millennials ‘haven’t bounced back from the 2008 financial crash’

Millennials in the UK are still bearing the “economic scars’ of the 2008 global financial crash, according to a new report.

The annual intergenerational audit from the Resolution Foundation compares the fortunes of those born between 1981 and 2000 with their predecessors.

Children no longer earning more than their parents

The report finds that the 2008 financial crisis broke the pattern of young people getting paid more their parents at the same stage of life.

Those born in the late 1980s earn an average of 8% less at the age of 30 than their counterparts from Generation X. Generation X refers to people born between 1966 and 1980.

Graduates hit hard

Pay for graduates, in particular, has suffered since the crisis. The average weekly pay of graduates aged 30-34 has dropped by 16 per cent between 2007 and 2023. In comparison, the average weekly pay of non-graduates has fallen by 6 per cent.

A different picture in the US

But the continuing effects of the financial crash are not being felt by millennials everywhere. In the US, while millennials’ finances were initially affected by the 2008 crisis and ensuing recession, recent income gains have helped them catch up and even surpass previous generations.

Approaching middle age bearing economic scars

Sophie Hale from the thinktank said:

“Young people across advanced economies were hit by the financial crisis, putting a stop to decades of progress.

“Fifteen 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.”