Youth Poverty: The need for a Basic Income
Original image by Ev Style
A Universal Basic Income would create opportunities for young people right across the UK who have become unemployed and who face financial hardship because of coronavirus. As of mid-August, over 700,000 people in the UK have lost their jobs due to the negative economic impact of the virus. The majority of those that have lost work have unfortunately been young people, previously employed on zero-hours contracts or in precarious, low paid roles in the service economy.
On top of this, many of those young people had already battled the injustice of wage discrimination in the workplace. Wage discrimination means that younger people have to work longer hours and more shifts to earn the same money as their older colleagues. Quite often, the nature of this employment either means these shifts are long, backbreaking and finish at unacceptable hours, or there’s simply not enough hours to go around as young people are forced to compete with each other to be given more work.
It is not yet known how coronavirus will impact the world of work for young people in years to come, but to ascertain an understanding of what the next few years might look like, we can analyse areas such as the previously reported stats around youth homelessness. In 2018 to 2019, youth homelessness charity Centre Point found that 110,000 16 to 24-year-olds were either homeless or at risk of homelessness in the UK, with only 57% of cases of homelessness prevented or dealt with in England. For those young people already experiencing homelessness, 50% attributed the cause as ‘total owed a prevention or relief duty’, with 25% saying that their family or friends could no longer accommodate them. It is clear then that one of the key causes of youth homelessness is a lack of income. Precarious and low paid work causes a race to the bottom, forcing overworked and underpaid young people into such financial difficulty that they are forced into ‘sofa surfing’ or rough sleeping.
A Basic Income would not eradicate youth homelessness, nor would it act as a silver bullet for young people facing financial difficulty in education, but it lays the foundation from which we can give all young people opportunities. Something as simple as a regular and continuous Basic Income will help many young people get off the streets, giving them a chance to save, seek help and find safe accommodation. A Basic Income will also provide much needed help to families and friends caring for an individual who is at risk of homelessness, giving them the vital funds to pay for food, drink and other essentials. A Basic Income not only provides a short term solution for young people who face wage discrimination and are at risk of homelessness, it also tackles a central cause of youth homelessness: financial insecurity. UBI addresses the issue at its core, meaning it is both a proactive and a reactive policy.
When we look at a the potential of Basic Income, it’s exciting to think about the precedent it sets for further measures to be implemented in the fight for a fairer society. With a UBI in place, campaigns for a real living wage, an end to zero hours contracts and wage discrimination, the four day working week and many more will be given a boost. This is another reason why a Basic Income offers such long term potential - it stands up for young workers of the future as well as the present, providing a mechanism through which vulnerable young people can avoid homelessness.
The implementation of a UBI is not necessarily a choice of politics, for it has support in all major parties in the UK. Instead it is a question of morality. The Conservative government has a huge opportunity to give young people hope for the future, to put an end to exploitative, low-paid employment and help homeless individuals off our streets and into safe accommodation.
A Basic Income must be at the heart of our economic and social recovery from coronavirus, but it must also be in place for the long term. Just like the NHS did at the end of the second world war, a Basic Income protect those most impacted by this crisis. UBI is our generation’s NHS, and it will create a future filled with opportunity and equality for young people.
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To get involved with UBI Lab Youth* then get in touch with us on email youth@ubilabnetwork.org, on Twitter @UBILabYouth.*, on Instagram UBI Lab Youth* or on Facebook UBI Lab Youth*.
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More about the author
Leo Holmes - @LeoHolmes1999
Cardiff, Wales
Work in Welsh Politics. Vice-Chair of Cardiff Young Labour. Vice-Chair of GMBGMB W&SW Young Members. Cofounder UBI Lab Youth and Labour 4 UBI. Cardiff University Graduate.