Millennials in southern Europe have found themselves unceremoniously shoved down the order of priorities
1985 should have been a good one to be born in Europe. Elisa Zugno, now a 35-year-old copywriter who lives in Milan, was able to benefit from the tailwinds of the 1990s and early 2000s. Economies ticked along and higher education opened up. Various forms of discrimination were outlawed. History had ended. Life was good.
Instead of a recovery, the financial crisis morphed into the euro-zone crisis, with renewed pain for Europe’s youngsters. Unemployment shot up. Four out of every ten young Italians did not have a job in the middle of the last decade, while half of young workers in Spain were in the same boat. The result: Ms Zugno was 31 before she landed the first permanent contract of her working life.
All generations suffer during a crisis. But the consequences last longer for the young. Economic misery has a tendency to compound. Low wages now beget low wages later, and meagre pensions after that. The prospect of middle-aged drudgery beckons. For older generations, a recession is an unfortunate pot-hole, which most will drive over without even blowing a tyre. But for southern Europe’s younger people, it is an enormous sinkhole from which it will be hard to clamber out.
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