The UK is facing a major crisis. With over 1 million 16 to 24 year olds currently unemployed, youth unemployment is now at the highest level since comparable records began 19 years ago. For the first time in history, opportunities available to young generations are judged to be worse than those of their parents. Simultaneously, life prospects and expectations are changing for those over 50. In ten years, this group will account for a half of British population. This demographic trend, combined with the removal of the Default Retirement Age and the squeeze on pension funds, will keep many of older workers in jobs for many years to come. Currently, there are an estimated 1,000,000 people working beyond the age of 65.  

Both, the young and the older cohort compete for a limited number of jobs; both suffer as a result of the heavily constricted job market and economic slowdown. On the one hand, research has shown that young people who spend significant amounts of time out of work can be permanently scarred by their experiences. Someone who has been out of work for more than a year in their youth will earn as much as 28 per cent less over their lifetime, and is more likely to be convicted of a crime. On the other hand, two thirds of those ‘working later’ into their retirement age, will do so because they cannot afford to retire. They will often struggle to reconcile professional duties with private life care responsibilities and health needs.

This publication will propose a bold re-thinking of traditional workforce structures in order to tackle the challenge of youth unemployment and meet the needs of an older working population. Examining evidence from countries with strong records of transferring knowledge and responsibility from the older generation to the younger, ResPublica will formulate a proposal for the Government for intergenerational job-sharing. Besides the learning opportunities, the splitting of full-time employment will offer the young an opportunity to get a foot on the job ladder (and off the JSA); the older workers will benefit from more flexible hours, a phased transition into retirement and an exposure to the younger generation. Above all, the covenant between generations proposed here will address the growing concern over the lack of intergenerational fairness.  

The project will be a flagship output of our New Economies, Innovative Markets workstream, one of the three core workstreams of the ResPublica Trust, the not-for-profit organisation established in July 2011 which undertakes all of ResPublica's domestic policy work. The project is still open to external engagement from third party organisations and ResPublica would like to establish a consortium of partners from the public, private and third sectors, who will feed in to our further research and debate in this area and benefit from co-branding on publications and events.

If you would like further information, or to discuss partnering opportunities, please contact Dr Patricia Kaszynska, Senior Researcher, patricia.kaszynska@respublica.org.uk

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