Young men earning less than predecessors, study finds

A report from the Resolution Foundation has claimed that men in their 20s are earning £12,500 less than the previous generation owing to the changing nature of work.

The think tank, which concentrates on issues affecting those on low and middle incomes, suggests that men working in their 20s now were more likely to be working in basic service jobs, or part-time, with lower wages than the previous generation - those born between 1966 and 1980.

Additionally, the proportion of low-paid work carried out by young men has increased by 45 per cent between 1993 and 2015-16, compared with a fall among young women - discovering a narrowing pay gap between men and women.

Torsten Bell, executive director at the Resolution Foundation, argues that the foundation’s evidence shows that Generation Y, also known as millennials, earn less than their Generation X predecessors in every year between 22 and 30, contesting the idea that each age group should be better off than the last.

She said: "The long-held belief that each generation should do better than the last is under threat. Millennials - those born between 1981 and 2000 - are the first to earn less than their predecessors.

"While that in part reflects their misfortune to come of age in the midst of a huge financial crisis, there are wider economic forces that have seen young men in particular slide back."

Daniel Tomlinson, who authored the report, said: “The fact that the UK has a large low-paid service sector economy is something that increasing numbers of young men will now be able to testify to. It's good news that low-paid roles are now more evenly shared between men and women but the way in which this is happening raises serious concerns about what the world of work has to offer some young men.”