The younger generation of workers face a torrid financial future. Pre-pandemic, many struggled to buy their own home or save regularly. Post-pandemic, that may prove even more difficult. Rising unemployment, a drastically different working environment and tax increases to pay for government furlough and business support will all plague their pockets for years to come.
And with the state pension starting age expected to rise even further, perhaps even to 75, it appears worrying that research by Royal London found two in five millennials aged 18 to 34 had stopped or reduced their pension contributions following coronavirus. A survey for Unbiased.co.uk also reported 24 per cent of under 35s said they had no pension savings at all.
The government's workplace auto-enrolment scheme has gone some way to heading off a crisis, but it fails to take into account the many young people in casual or insecure gig economy roles or the self-employed. Encouraging them to fund a self-invested personal pension, or SIPP, can be tough when money is tight and retirement seems like a distant dream.